Spotlight

Drugs can single-handedly destroy the future leadership of a country, a nation and this planet as a whole. It is so powerful that anyone starting from a teenager to a senior citizen may be tempted and get hooked on to it for life. It shortens our life span in return for a short lasting hype.

Then the question is, why drug addicts opt for this life threatening extravagance? In most cases the answer is, experimentation. Many of the addicts start taking drugs just to do some experimentation and later find out that this experimentation has become a part of their life and now they can't get out of it.

Although I have specified few reasons why people take drugs, but my main intention is to figure out the solution of this particular problem and how we can stop this cancer from spreading further. My first suggestion would be to create mass awareness. Social awareness is the key because drugs have already entered almost all the layers in society and age group from teenagers to fifty plus seniors from artistes to professionals. Adolescents should be made aware that doing experimentation with drugs may turn them into addicts in the long run. Parents, teachers should be made aware of why someone may opt for this life-stopping element.

Parental control is another key issue here. Control does not mean that parents should clamp down on their children. Rather I meant parents should give enough time to their children so that they never feel the absence of their parents. In many instances it was found that many young men took drugs only because they did not get their parents when they needed them the most. Parents must make out some time from their busy schedule for their children. They must monitor with whom their children are going out and also how they are performing in their school / college / university.

Government and Law enforcers have their own role to play in fighting this disease of the society. On the contrary, adequate number of drug rehabilitation centres with needed facilities must be established so that addicted people can be cured and can be given the chance to return to normal life.

Special awareness programme should also be arranged in the educational institutions ensuring utmost and whole-hearted participation. Government must encourage such programmes by supporting them financially and logistically. There must be enough scope for recreational activities in the educational institutions. A career-oriented mindset should be instilled in the youngsters. This will eventually make them think about their future and they will engage themselves in various self-developing activities.

In a fiery speech, one of my friends Ezaz commented, “Drugs are destroying the 'creative sector' of our country, which is the young generation. So we all have to step forward to protect the youth from this threat.” Yes, we must step forward and take effective initiatives to stop this disease from becoming an epidemic.

A Tale of Recovery
Here I am recounting a story of recovery a recovery from the cursed life of drug addiction. I don't want to disclose the name and information of the person, rather I give him a hypothetical name 'Sufian'. He gave me his own tale of recovery just to let others know that self-belief can always help one to recover from whatever misery he is in.

Sufian is an artist and currently studying in a reputable university of Bangladesh. His parents are very busy professionals. Like many other adolescents he started with smoking. He used to smoke quite a lot in his early life and from there he graduated to 'Gunja' and finally to different drugs. “I never opted for drugs that are pushed through injection as I was quite afraid. I always went for drugs that are used by other means.”

When Yaba hit the town, he started to take it. Unlike any other that he used to take it was an excitement booster. “After taking Yaba you can do anything even study more than ever. I was in such a situation where I stayed awake for 10 consecutive days. You may think that girls don't take drugs. But you will find astonishing number of girls taking drugs and they are the key figures in drug peddling and also black mailing.” He said. From taking Yaba he began to have paranoia. “I couldn't go outside of my house as I was so afraid. Even one day I came back after driving few metres outside my house. A feeling of insecurity was gripping my mind and my whole surroundings.”

It was then Sufian started to try to overcome his addiction problem. “Self rehabilitation, self motivation, self esteem are the key things if someone wants to overcome addiction to drugs.” His family provided a great help in fighting his misery. “I let my family know my problem and they didn't react sharply. They didn't force me to go to a rehabilitation centre.” He didn't believe in going to a rehabilitation centre as he thinks that rehabilitation centres in our country can only make the situation worse and that drugs peddling is also a common scenario out there.

Sufian's friends gave him a lot of support. They didn't seclude him in the university; rather they accompanied him in his recovery period and helped him in getting well. “You can't overcome drugs addiction overnight. It took me quite a while to recover from the stage I was in". His final words were "I gave you my story because I want other drug addicts to overcome their misery. "

Well my dear readers, the story ends here. What we can learn is that, drug addiction is not incurable. The youngsters who are addicted to drugs can overcome if they have the self-motivation and support from their dear ones. It is our duty to take them out of their dark world and make them a part of our brave new world. Let's take them outside from the dark corner to feel the sunshine! I welcome you Sufian to our world and hats off to you!! You have won the battle. You have defeated drugs!!

(The writer is a student of the University of Dhaka and can be reached through amanat_y2k@yahoo.com)