By: Mohmmad Aakib Shah
Drugs abuse is a serious social concern and thus all efforts are being made on national the international level to curb it. Though the strictest laws are being enforced to curb the menace, the spread of abuse goes on unabated threatening the future of children.
Parental negligence and lack of moral education are the biggest causes of substance abuse. It is duty of the parents to have honest and frequent communication with their children and behave like friends.
It is worth mentioning here that drug trafficking and abuse has increased over the years in Kashmir, especially in the south. The youth are becoming very vulnerable to drug abuse and this ugly trend is dangerous not only for the future of abusers and their respective families but for the entire nation. This young generation is the future of our nation and if it falls prey to drugs, nobody can guarantee a healthy future.
Those falling prey to the drugs may have scores of excuses to justify their madness but they need to understand that there are others also, facing the same troubles but not taking refuge in drugs thus hurting themselves, families and the society. Life is full of pleasures and troubles; disappointments and opportunities and those who see only black, are the weaker ones who fall in the dark pit of drug abuse.
There are a large number of people who are addicted to drugs because they are unable to carry the responsibilities that fall on them in life. Drug abuse for them is an escape route that helps neither them nor their families.
Addiction means that you go back to the same thing over and over again, that is, you can fall morally, ethically and legally to get a dose for yourself. The addiction becomes so overwhelming that the abuser cannot make a wrong from the right as his/her nero-chemicals change. Children in a home where there are daily fights are at risk of becoming addicted to drugs. Broken families, extremists, vulnerable people, children in bad company, watching drug related movies at younger age, failure in love etc make some youth more vulnerable to drug abuse.
The environment around us is also responsible for this. There is a need to put more emphasis on moral education besides in schools, the teachers should regularly educate the children about the dangers that drug abuse can pose to the.
We are the ones who run the administration, we are the ones who run the homes and we are the ones who run the country, so why is it difficult to overcome this menace? Because we haven’t ever thought seriously about the issue. To fight this menace we need a collected effort. Parents, police, civil administration, civil society and religious leaders have to join hands and launch an awareness campaign to convince our children that drugs abuse is not something fashionable but it is the sign of a person’s weakness and shallowness.
To fight drug menace, we need a revolution, a strong battle that is to be fought in homes, markets, schools, work places and all over otherwise the day is not far when it will envelop everyone and become a source of destruction.
Police need to be more active to control the trafficking and people need to cooperate and help them identify the traffickers. These traffickers are the whole-sale dealers in death. They need to booked under PSA. Once serious steps are taken to break the curve of trafficking, it will definitely reduce the presence and supply in the dirty drug market.
- The writer can be reached at mohmmadaakibshah@gmail.com
