Authored by – Sruthi Krishna Prasad, Masters in Audiology and Speech Language Pathology – I Year JSS Institute of Speech and Hearing Mentoring and Support by Varsha Dhevi Behavioural Scientist and in dependent researcher, Bangalore. & Mentored by – Dr.Sathyaseelan MBBS
“A drink
A smoke
A pill
A shot
A moment of disguised happiness -may be just the beginning of a lifetime of regret.”
Substance abuse is a grave issue looming over our heads in the world currently. The youth of today are exposed to a lot of things. The real struggle lies in choosing what’s right for us. The World Health Organization (WHO, 2019) defines a drug as any substance or product that modifies the behaviour of a person for the benefit of the recipient. Substance abuse, on the other hand, is the drug use in a manner that affects the physical and mental functioning of the body adversely.
Substance abuse encompasses repeated drug or alcohol use that often hinders your performance in school, college or work and negatively affects your health. There is an alarming hike in the number of youngsters sent to rehabilitation centers for the abuse of alcohol and illicit/prescription drugs.
The main reason behind this extensive usage could be the peer pressure that the youth give in to. Also, the easy availability of such deadly drugs in the market is to be blamed. The very normalization of such dangerous things in the media is disheartening.
As per the WHO statistics, it is estimated that 275 million people used illicit drugs, such as cannabis, amphetamines, opioids, and cocaine, in 2016. Around 31 million people who use drugs suffer from drug use disorders. The harmful use of alcohol results in 3.3 million deaths each year. The studies suggest that alcohol and drug abuse represent one of the leading causes of death for the 15 to 24-yearold population. People who use drugs encounter a wide array of physical consequences other than those expected from them. The exhilaration of cocaine high is typically followed by a crash: a period of anxiety, fatigue, depression, and an acute desire for more cocaine to alleviate the feelings of the crash. The use of marijuana and alcohol interfere with their motor control and are the reasons for many automobile accidents. Users of marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs may experience flashbacks, unwanted recurrences of the drug’s effects weeks or months after use. Sudden restrain from certain drugs also results in withdrawal symptoms which can be severe.
In addition to significant morbidity and the related treatment, eventually substance abuse is even responsible for death of the person in several cases. The treatment of drug addiction takes a toll
mentally, emotionally and economically on the family. National Drug Assessment report, 2006 suggests that there are negative consequences of drug abuse affects not only the individuals who take drugs but also their families and friends, various businesses, and government resources.
It could be your friend, your sibling, neighbour or basically anyone you know. The change is slowly evident when they start distancing themselves from everyone else and emotionally detaching themselves from the society is where someone lives in. it would very gradually lead to depression and worst-case scenario even to suicidal tendencies. It is also very common to see the teenagers involved in criminal activities who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
They say,
“Addiction is a family disease. One person may use, but a whole family suffers.”
Typically, it is the family or the caregiver who is the last to learn the fact that their close one is under the influence of any addictive agents.
The legal implications of substance abuse are huge. When a youngster involves in such illegal activities, his/her future is at stake. That is a huge price to pay for a momentary lapse of judgement. As adults, it is important to sit with the younger generation and talk to them about what happens in the world. Talking about peer pressure, on how others could influence our thoughts. Conveying to them how valuable their life is and how they treating their body at right way could help the youth has to be trained to make the right choices, learn to resist temptations and not succumb to peer pressure.
Substance abuse slowly edges its way into addiction. The whole ordeal of coming out of addiction is unimaginable. It is a very serious concern as it affects the entire society. It is not wrong to seek help from a professional. The only thing we need to understand is that, there is nothing more important than our mental and physical well-being.