Drug abuse is a very broad topic and what it actually means depends on the circumstances one is speaking in. From the medical point of view, we can say that it refers to the taking of drugs against the prescription by a medical expert, whether knowingly or unknowingly. Sportspeople take in some substances that make them psychoactive and this too is categorized as abuse by the international sporting bodies. Additionally, there are substances, which once taken, stimulate the body system altering its normal operations, and hence fall under this category.
In short, it is the irresponsible use of a drug substance. But mostly when we talk about the topic, abuse of hard drugs is what we refer to. In most of the countries, it amounts to an illegal offence though it’s important to note here that the country of residence determines whether a certain substance is categorized as a hard drug or not. For example, in Kenya smoking bhang is illegal while in Jamaica it may not be such a serious offence.
Most Common Causes
There may be a number of causes behind this. Here are some of them:
1. Peer pressure: Many people from different social classes have been lured into it by their peers. In one’s attempt to have a sense of belonging into a certain group, he/she tends to indulge in ALL the activities the group does.
2. Ignorance: Some people without their knowledge wake up to the hard reality. This happens for instance when people take medicine themselves without consulting a medical professional and realize it too late that they are already addicted to it.
3. Stress: Many people who have had testimonials have been noted to have had stressful moments in time they got to abusing drugs. Drugs, especially the hard drugs have that effect of “like cheating ’’ the brain that all is well when in reality it isn’t. It actually has a postponing effect of the current problem and this amounts to abuse of the drug being taken.
4. The media: When teens see people abusing drugs in movies and other related stuff in the media, or even the internet, out of their curiosity they decide to give it a try and experience the effect. This worsens if the people being imitated are superstars in the fields the teens would aspire to be in.
The Hazardous Effects
Abusing of drugs has led to death in a number of ways, e.g. overdosing and in turn overcoming the body. The number of families that have been broken due to this are countless, especially alcohol which has rendered family breadwinners irresponsible as far as their duties are concerned. In developing economies where drug abuse is on rise, the future seems doomed, as the very youths supposed to take care of the economy have been made useless by the drugs.
Addiction is the worst of all the effects as the victim will have reached a stage where he cannot live without it, thus giving rise to increased level of insecurity.
