When you’re addicted to drugs you can’t resist the urge to use them no matter how much they cost or affect your life mentally and physically. The earlier you get treatment for drug addiction, the more likely you are to avoid some of the consequences and damages that will take place in your own life.
Some people when they hear the word addict or addiction first think of illegal drugs like cocaine, tobacco, and cannabis (marijuana) but there is more than one type of addiction. There are so many reasons why people are taking drugs. Young adults and school children are now taking these drugs, which calls for action by society. I once asked one schoolboy the reason why he was taking drugs and his response had me concerned. “I just want to feel good my sister and to avoid the reality of academic pressures.” Concerning, isn’t it?
I don’t know whether I should call it drug abuse or drug addiction or maybe both. Upon trying to wrap my head the issue of this student, I picked up three points which are; to feel good, avoid reality and academic pressures. In most cases of these children’s lives, friendships dominate more to this cause because they spend more time at school where they feed each other with false illusions about reality. Had I known the backstory and his background, I could have shed more light on his situation. The very little information he gave cited why some people take drugs, not only young adults but also the adults. The pressures of life are a contributing factor.
Many people are going through different stresses in life. In their mind, they would be looking for something that makes them forget the situation not knowing that you can never run away from a situation without it getting solved. This makes one exist instead of living. Parents must make time for their children. We are now living in a world of technology whereby the internet has taken all the attention, the time parents used to spend with their families is now taken over by WhatsApp groups, YouTube etc. Some of the experiments with drugs, sex and so on are birthed from the exposure derived from online platforms.
Now reader I’m taking you deep in this article for you to fully understand the cause and effects of this (addiction) issue. Earlier on I mentioned about drug abuse and drug addiction as two different things. Drug abuse is when you use legal or illegal substances which you shouldn’t and this unhealthy habit can be easily changed. ADDICTION is when you can’t stop it, not because you have fallen ill or when it causes financial constraints. The urge to use drugs and get them will always occur any time of the day. It is different from physical dependence or tolerance.
There are three factors that I have discovered that causes drug addiction and they can also apply to drug abuse. These are as follows;
Lack of parent-child communication
Children always need guidance. Some end up doing all these things because they are lacking counselling. No one is there to help them and it seems like nowadays it’s becoming harder to keep track of children’s activities. Some are just doing this to get the attention of their parents. If only parents can focus on their children who perhaps need to hear a word from them to start changing. Parents should also take a look at the type of friends that their children hang around with because that’s where everything starts including peer pressure. If you do not take part in fighting the factors leading to addictions, their brain’s chemical systems and circuits are affected thus resulting in poor school performance.
Stress and Inability to cope
Most people that go through stress think of something that makes them happy for a moment forgetting whatever that they will be going through. Taking drugs doesn’t solve anything to ease your stress because at the end of the day you’re going to come back to the situation again. I do understand that there are people with troubled relationships, for example, maybe there was a separation between the parents and life became hard one way or the other, there are high possibilities of that child to look for something to get over his/her stress. Getting counselling including the adults who are as well engaging in such addictions can be helpful. One might think that they have failed in life and then end up having addictions to things that turn off their minds and think otherwise. It is essential to deal with life situations using methods that do not cause harm to your body and life as a whole.
Social pressures and poverty
These are the number one big problems that are causing peer pressure on young adults, causing them to drop out of school because of low income at home. Some end up taking drugs to satisfy their minds, ease their stress and avoid reality. Some of these teens are forced to start working and put their education on hold to support their families. To make matters worse, if they happen to get peanuts from their workplaces, the situation becomes worse. More problems are piled up and if not careful, the escape is none other than an addiction to harmful substances. They need to receive gratitude for their efforts so that they can feel motivated to put in their best rather than to find an escape.
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