Drug, Any substance that causes a change in an organism’s physiology or psychology when consumed. The types are – stimulants (e.g. cocaine), depressants (e.g. alcohol), opium-related painkillers (e.g. heroin), hallucinogens (e.g. LSD). Drugs don’t just affect our physical body and health, they can affect our mental health, our finances, our relationships, our social life, and our criminal record. Any drug intake which affects you depends on: the drug itself, what type of drug it is, how we took it, how much we took, how strong or pure it is, how often we take it, our gender, mood, have we become tolerant? what other drugs we took with it. These all questions should be answered to ourselves before we take another step. Some will make you feel more awake, alert, and energetic. Others will give you a calm, relaxed feeling. Studies show that drug use increases your risk of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and psychosis. People with mental health issues also have a higher rate of drug use problems. Illicit drug use causes a significant burden to the economy, e.g.-the estimated total social costs for methamphetamine alone are around $5 billion annually – through crime, loss of productivity, and increased health care costs. Most importantly it can change our behavior toward others. Many drugs are illegal and you can be fined, or sent to prison, for having them. If convicted of a drug offense, you could end up with a criminal record. The after-effects vary depending on what drugs were taken and can be mental and/or physical like depression, insomnia, extreme tiredness, headaches, nausea, loss of appetite. Addiction and dependence to it come as physical – our body craves the drugs, mental – our mind needs the drug in order to forget your problems or relax, social -we feel we need the drug in order to fit in or enjoy social events. Despite being aware of the deadly effects of these drug substances, people continue to consume them. Drug de-addiction center is often underestimated as mere physical dependence on the substances. This is why patients are usually treated with medications that are nothing but mood-altering substances. Initially, the patients may show signs of recovery but eventually, over-dependence on these drugs makes them addicted to the medications as well. Moreover, the body stops reacting to the drugs and may even suffer side effects at physical and psychological levels. On the contrary, rehabilitation programs are designed to re-introduce drug addicts to the brighter side of life and make them addiction-free, happy and healthy individuals. Rehabilitation centers have been set up in every state in India to tackle this ever-growing problem of drug addiction. The rehab centers provide world-class treatments that include medication, counseling, behavioral therapy, group therapy, and several other types of treatment. Rehab centers deal with alcohol addictions, drug abuse, and even addiction to painkillers or sleeping pills. The aim of rehabilitation centers is to get the addicted back to normal healthy life and bring happiness to their family as well. Hence, if you know someone who is in need of help with drug addiction, you can approach any of the drug addiction rehabilitation centers in India.
The goal of the Campaign should be to prevent drug use before it starts and encourage occasional users to discontinue use. The drugs to focus on are drugs of first use. Most commonly, the illicit drug of first use is marijuana. Many people who start using marijuana at early age progress to use other drugs. Conversely, people who have never tried marijuana and inhalants are unlikely to try other drugs. Thus, preventing the use of marijuana appears to be a powerful means for preventing other drug use. Inhalants are another class of illicit substances of first use for many adolescents. Unlike marijuana, inhalants can have very immediate and serious physical consequences for users (NCADI, 1997). Tobacco and alcohol are two other important substances of first use for many people in India. To overcome the drug intake a campaign including these activities- Meditation, exercising, a talk, hobbies club are common things to take up. As necessary, the campaign can also address other illicit drugs that represent an immediate threat to occasional users. New drugs are intermittently developed and introduced into the drug use scene, and new ways of using existing drugs can rapidly become popular among young people. In these cases, people often have little or no factual information about the risks involved, and they make decisions based on incorrect assumptions and perceptions. For example, certain communities are experiencing an epidemic of heroin inhalation even among very young people, in part because of the incorrect assumption that inhaled heroin is less dangerous than injected heroin. The campaign can address such emerging trends in efforts to prevent their spread. The campaign should promote effective parenting strategies. Many parents and other caregivers do not know what specific actions they should take. The Campaign can convey parenting practices that are known to be effective not only in helping to prevent the use of illicit substances, but also in helping to prevent tobacco and alcohol use, academic failure, and involvement in other high-risk behaviors. Because family-focused prevention efforts have a greater impact than efforts focused only on youth or only on parents and primary caregivers, the campaign should target both audiences. The campaign should encourage action on the part of other people who influence the lives of youth. Teachers, mentors, coaches, older siblings, and a wide variety of people can and do have a critical impact on their behavior. They help to guide the development of young people, not only through their actions as role models but also through the recommendations, instruction, and encouragement they provide. The campaign can cultivate a key drug-prevention resource by motivating and assisting youth-influential adults to encourage positive youth development and discourage drug use in a variety of ways. The campaign messages must reinforce prevention messages delivered in other settings including schools, community organizations, and homes, and be linked to existing prevention resources in communities. This can be accomplished, in part, by developing a communication strategy based on approaches that have been proven effective and are accepted in these settings. It can be further accomplished by encouraging community organizations, professional groups, and government agencies to incorporate the communication strategy into their new and ongoing programs. Parental horror of drug use might actually discourage some teens from having open discussions with their parents. We all make some bad judgments when we are kids, and just because I made some mistakes doesn’t mean that it’s a good idea for you to repeat them, so it is ok and doesn’t feel discouraged or dejected.
Ananya Parmar
(Volunteer)
