The Truth About Drugs Abuse…..

It is the dream of every parent that their sons and daughters go to school and come back safely with good characters, manner, and integrity and more knowledgeable. Youths are exposed to several situations in life, ranging from poor life style through relationship problems, unstable home environment, poor parenting, poor performance in academic activities, emotional desire to feel high. Inability of some youths to cope with or handle personal problems practically and realistically may lead to drug abuse. Also control of work overload or stress, in such cases they use Bitter Kola, Nescafe, Passion and other Caffeine/Nicotine containing products in order to avoid sleepiness at some point in time, and all these contribute to substance abuse.

Others are using it as fashion, like the so-called ‘big guys’. These substances are mind altering agents. The use of substances to provide pleasurable conditions is dated back prehistoric times, were Burukutu, Indian hemp and Cigarettes were used. Apart from pharmaceutical drugs, people tend to use liquid solutions such as Petrol, Rubber solution, Glue correcting fluid and Paint and so on. These inflammable are inhaled directly into the lungs to produce sudden intoxication. Youths of nowadays, have resolved into use of Lizard dung, soak away/toilet fumes, concoction of unimaginable substances and pharmaceutical product like Cocaine, Tramadol, Beneleine, Totolene, and Codeine containing syrups.

Some drugs, such as marijuana and heroin, have a similar structure to chemical messengers, called neurotransmitters, which are naturally produced by the brain. Because of this similarity, these drugs are and to "fool" the brain's receptors and activate nerve cells to send abnormal messages. Other drugs, such as cocaine or methamphetamine, can cause the nerve cells to release abnormally large amounts of natural neurotransmitters, or prevent the normal recycling of these brain chemicals, which is needed to shut off the signal between neurons. This disruption produces a greatly amplified message that ultimately disrupts normal communication patterns. Substance abuse has been shown to alter brain circuiting, which in turn affects human behavior. Ones addiction develops brain changes, which interfere with the individual’s ability to make voluntary decision.

Consequences of abuse of these substances include but not limited to memory loss, anxiety, depression, mood swing, mental disorder, aggression, etc. Apart from the above mentioned mental problems, chronic substance abuse cause organ damage, stroke, cancer, fertility problems, respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal disease, and so on. Of course, the ultimate consequences of chronic substance abuse are death, either due to over dosage or prolonged use.

In our society, rape, thuggery, fight and all other forms of terrorism are usually done with the aid of these mind altering substances. The use of drug abuse by young people around us is becoming a serious problem to our society. Government should take necessary steps in dealing with this issue by reinforcing a national drug law by the regulatory agencies. In addition to parental care which play an important role in child upbringing. Guardians, traditional rulers and vigilante should be deeply involved in monitoring and regulating the movement of these substances in our society and public awareness on the damage of using these substances, this will surely help in reducing the incident of drug abuse among youths.

From mass communication department
University of Maiduguri