By: Junaid Abdullah
According to Maclver, “Society is a web of social relationships” means society belongs to people and
people belong to society. Though lot of problems in a society are hereditary but some are added, due to
destructive steps of people living in it. Drug abuse is one among the earned disease that we have added
to our society.
Honestly, my heart mourns and blood runs through the eyes when I see a rapid involvement of
our youth in consumption of non – permissive substances ( drugs). When men first come in contact with
it, they abhor it. If they remain in contact with it for a time, they become familiar to it, and endure it. If
they remain in contact with it long enough, they finally embrace it, and become the addicts. Drugs are
usually consumed to get non – physiological results and it’s long term use leads to both physical and
psychological dependence. People commonly go through such non – permissive substances either in a
desire of experiment or in a whim of replacing stress, anxiety or pain with comfort and ease.
The first most common reason many of our youth step into this field is a desire of experiment. It is like a
boy who does not know anything about Gun but still desires to grab it and fire. It is obvious that he will
paint his hands with blood. Similarly a boy who desires to experience a non – permissive drug, guides his
life towords a pit of destruction. It happens because all the slogans against drug addiction seem mere a
myth when a large counts of people smoke in public, even a role model of a boy whether a parent or a
teacher smoke infront of him.
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Another reason, why people become drug addicts is a belief that by consuming such drugs, state of
stress and anxiety will get replaced by happiness and comfort. Being a medical student let me discuss in
brief the mechanism of drugs:
When one is in a state of anxiety, Active Central Nervous System ( Brain and spinal chord) sends signal
to adrenal gland and in response adrenaline and Cortisol get released, thus heartbeat gets a rapid
increase and blood rushes to the areas that need it most. By consuming such drugs the CNS gets
depressed and these drugs interfere with the way neurons send, receive and process signals via
neurotransmitters. The person feels sleepy, free from pain, stress and anxiety. But these are temporary
measures as the effect of these drugs last as long as the concentration of drug is circulating in blood.
After sometime pain and stress appear again. So, we should rethink that this is not the permanent
solution to bring down the stress.
When we talk about the drug abuse in Kashmir, there is a rapid flow in it’s graph. According to a survey
65 -70% students in Kashmir are drug addicts including gateway drugs like cigerate, paan, Gutka etc.
Which are commonly used by young males aging 12 – 15 . According to a survey sponsored by United
Nations Drug Control Program ( UNDCP) there are 70000 drug addicts in Kashmir division alone including
4000 women. Among them 90% belong to the age group of 17 – 35. The situation is obviously
alarming. There may be lot of reasons for such gigantic involvement in such activities but
unemployment and the impact of conflict are most common.
In order to curb this prevailing crime, we as responsible members of a society will have to reach on its
root cause to save our blossoming flowers from the hands of evening sun. To my mind, punishment is
not a perfect solution, maximum drug addicts are builders of nation ( youth ). They must be counseled in
a comfortable manner, their voice must be heard in a better way. They must be encouraged and
involved in some decision making process under the supervision of experienced men, so that they can
overcome the destructive crime.Love must be whispered into their hearts and the harvest would be
good. Social awareness seminars in this regard should be organised in schools, colleges etc. Elders of a
society should supervise a team for the cause, encourage and guide them in right direction. Youth
participation is so important to fulfill society’s legal obligations and responsibilities as youths are related
to ideas, impulse of thoughts and personal development, such actions will indeed produce fruitful
results.
Author can be reached at junaidabdullah33@gmail.com
