Drug Abuse: A Deadly Trap in Our Midst
Growing up as a Nigerian, I have the opportunity to be exposed to the deadly effects of drug abuse and most especially how it affects my society. In fact recently, the figure of people most especially the youth into drugs is really alarming and the end product of their lives due to the drugs is also heartbreaking.
Writing this topic today made me remember this childhood best friend I have, Femi. I and Femi grew up together in Kogi State my Home state as we together explore our streets together and even share amazing moments together. But I can still remember vividly that years ago, Femi was exposed to this particular Substance abuse called "Igbo" which is marijuana. Well at first it looks like an experiment for him but along the way, he got addicted to it.
Before I knew it, Femi who is my friend and that have this amazing plans for his future, a bright young man begins a Shadow of himself. It first started from his academic, his grades begins to get affected, relationships with people including I personally getting affected and then his health begins to take a downtrend. Femi who was vibrant once begins to become isolated and lost. That was how I eventually lost Femi to the hands of drug abuse.
Over the Decades, Drug abuse has really been a challenge that Nigeria has not yet been able to fully overcome in our society as it has affected millions negatively. In fact the recent research I made opens my eyes that over 14 million Nigerians use drugs and over 40% of them are youths. That is really disappointing with that figure. The most common substance that got abused in my society has been tramadol, marijuana, and codeine.
I think the issue is many of those youths is not fully aware of the negatives effect of drug abuse. Their health been at risks, their mental health most especially as it can even lead to depression. Not only that, drug abuse has been a source of social consequences to many that engaged in it.
Like Femi my friend, one of the first thing I noticed that affected him is his relationship with the society. Relationships with his friends and families started to get affected to the point his relationship with his family was torn apart.
Not only that, it leads to increase in the crime rate as violence and theft in our society. Sometimes I wonder what really pushes a lot of people to drug abuse and at the end, I discovered several reasons actually contributed to that and if those reasons are not tackled, we might continue to see an increase in drugs been abused in our society.
The first and common reason is peer pressure. The truth is a lot of people that want to engage in drugs were because some of their peers influenced them to do so. And to some, it might be because they see it as an escape route away from their challenges and problems. Probably some of them are suffering from poverty, frustration, depression and many more. Some always feel those drugs for some moments made them not to think of their problems.
It actually pains me that even though this topic of drug abuse have been discussed many times, it is still at a very high rate and if it is not dealt with, it can have huge consequences on our society. The first consequence it will cause to our society which I will point out is the crime rate. The truth it, majority of youths who engaged in drug abuse end up engaging in criminal activities.
Other consequences is the aspect of social breakdown. We might begin to see more broken homes and families on rise. And of course, a lot of people's health might begin to struggle and suffer due to the abuse of some certain kinds of substances.
Every single time I remember Femi experience, my best friend, it is always heartbreaking. I can still remember then, his addiction didn't only affect our relationship but also affect his relationship with his others friend. Even though we tried every possible means then, we advised him, we counsel him but well, we discovered that Femi addiction was stronger to break for us.
At this stage, our society really needs to do something to it. We need to come up with more Support system, I mean more rehabilitation centers that will actually help people who are suffering the same. Gradually, I believe if as a society, we join hands together to fight this battle of drug abuse in our society, we will surely overcome it someday. The earlier we actually embrace this battle and fight it, the better it will be for us, for the future of our unborn children and our society in general.
This post was inspired by the #inleo community and my entry to the #septemberinleo monthly prompt day 26. Feel free to check it out and participate.
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