By Usman Muhammad Salihu
The menace of drugs abuse spreading like a wildfire in our contemporary society is gradually or has already become rampant among each member of our society, ranging from old, young and adult and at the same time men and women, rich and the poor.
Drug abuse is in essence misuse of drugs or taking it without doctor’s, physician’s or pharmacy’s directive for the purpose of pleasurable effects on the brain especially by the youths.
The problem keeps on escalating to the extent that you hardly see a group of ten to fifteen youths without finding a member or two that engage themselves into drug abuse.
Nowadays, many people tends to misunderstood why or how some people become drug abusers to the extent that some people look at those addicts as ones that lacks proper upbringing and thereby ridiculing them instead of counselling them.
According to National Institute of Health Espanol, As a person continues to use drugs, the brain adapts by reducing the ability of cells in the reward circuit to respond to it. This reduces the high that the person feels compared to the high they felt when first taking the drug—an effect known as tolerance.
They might take more of the drug to try and achieve the same high. These brain adaptations often lead to the person becoming less and less able to derive pleasure from other things they once enjoyed, like food, sex, or social activities. This changes are what leads to drugs addiction.
As person continue taking drugs improperly, the brain adapt by reducing the number of ability cells in the brain circuit that responds. This reduces the high one enjoys when taking the drugs for the first time and thereby increase the dosage for the enjoyment of the first high.
long term drugs usage causes changes in brain circuit as well as affecting it’s functions.
Despite that, No one may be able to predict the exact causes of drug abuse and addiction in our society especially among the youth but rather common factors such as the environment which includes friends, family, peer pressure, economic status among others.
Other contributing factors are parental guides, early exposure to drugs, physical abuse, stress age, gender inequality, ethnicity, genes and mental disorder all contribute immensely to the phenomenon.
The consequences of drug abuse in our contemporary Nigerian youth if not properly curtailed may result from poor academic performance, mental disorder, increasing number of out of school, financial, sexually abuse, diseases, learning, decision making, depression and anxiety.
Others are troubled relationships, increase of crime rate in the society, hopeless feelings, scared, guilty, among other consequences ranging from spiritual, mental and social consequences.
Despite the above-mentioned effects, many youths continue engaging themselves in drug abuse and how would one measure the future of our youths in Nigeria?
Drug abuse is a disease whose quiting takes more than good intentions. It changes the thinking capacity of humans and as such makes quitting it very hard even for those intending to.
But the good news is that drug abuse can be prevented and the best way of resisting and prevention of drug abuse phenomenon in our society is through creation of awareness on the dangers of the menace. By informing the public about the effects of drug abuse especially in our youths who are the leaders of tomorrow, the problem will be drastically reduce if not eradicated entirely when teachers, parents, health care providers, media personnel and community leaders join hands together in educating the populace.
Making Goodwill intention of resisting drugs abuse by an addict, and also seeking God’s intervention is indeed a greater move of bringing and end to the phenomenon.
Usman Muhammad Salihu is HND 1 student of Mass Communication
Abubakar Tatari Ali Polytechnic Bauchi State
Can be reached via muhammadu5363@gmail.com.
