dyton mupawaenda
Simon Tavengwa-Correspondent
In an advanced world, with information overload, and swift information sharing taking centre stage, there is always that downside to the advent of the wonderland.
Added to that matrix, drug abuse has become a component in the misery bedevilling mankind.
Drug abuse is the excessive, irrational, or addictive consumption of drugs for purposes other than those prescribed by a doctor, regardless of the potential social, psychological, and bodily side effects. The use of drugs that are harmful to the individual or others is also considered abusive.
The list of drugs cannot be easily exhausted. However, those known to the streets are marijuana/mbanje, methamphetamine (mutoriro, guka, chalk), glue, bronco, maragado, cane spirit, cocaine, and alcohol just to mention the familiar codes at our disposal.
There could be more drugs in circulation since their misuse is clandestine.
Nonetheless, people abuse drugs for a variety of reasons.
The addiction does not have boundaries as anyone can be affected, despite their background or standing.
Three primary causes classified as emotional, physical and psychological factors normally instigate the abuse of drugs.
There is a class of people in the emotional category who take drugs to fill some vacant space in their lives; which could be a lost relationship, the death of a loved one or just an ordeal.
Then, there are those in the physical category who want the effects of a high or low to have an imagined or better feeling.
In the psychological category are people who feel inadequate or incompetent in almost every aspect, hence the need to boost self-assurance.
Be that as it may, in trying to address one or all of the nagging issues, individuals do not realise that they are suddenly enmeshed in the so-called solutions.
We live in a weird world where some individuals make their choices, while others are pushed or innocently dive into addiction.
Peer pressure cannot be spared; it actually has the hypnotising effect of all the drugs combined.
People are caught in the web because so and so does it. It is a sad reality that individuals rarely have time to think and decide on.
All they can do is just pick from the garbage cans provided by their peers. Individuals want to fit into a society at any cost, but when things turn sour, the same community ejects them.
Another bait that has left many in the madhouse is curiosity, which draws people into experimentation.
Unconventional preachers normally exaggerate the effects of high-level drugs, thereby swooping the gullible off their feet.
When abused, drugs have been known to cause misery at home, in schools, and at the workplace.
It goes without saying that drug abusers, more often than not, downplay the risk factors of their addictive game; the manifestation of its brutality being either short-term or long-term.
The damage is immeasurable. At times, suicidal thoughts flood the mind, depression fixates the lone soul, risky behaviour goes into overdrive, internal organs give in to the unrestrained consumption, and if rehabilitation does not come to the rescue, death becomes inevitable.
Unfortunately, youths seem to have been ambushed by this heinous addiction, which is sweeping across the world at a rate of knots.
Imagine bequeathing a legacy to an intoxicated generation. This could be a minute to midnight.
In the midst of this disturbance, there are kingpins cashing in on a putrefying society.
While somebody is making a prayer to push more and more volumes of intoxication, someone else is praying for the redemption of a dying child, a dying relative, or a dying friend in the neighbourhood due to substance abuse.
Full story: www.herald.co.zw
Simon Tayengwa is the Public Service Commission’s communication, advocacy and content development officer. He writes in his personal capacity.
In fact, the nation is fighting a multipronged monster that needs an equally forceful approach.
If the nation is to live a little longer in such a state, unprecedented damage could be on the horizon.
There are always ways to redress any repulsive situation, and the starting point is emphatically undoing the status quo through awareness campaigns that educate individuals on the ways to avoid and combat substance abuse.
Individuals need to have the will power to manage peer pressure, choose the right friends, value life, fight drug abuse, and religiously follow healthy routines that are practical.
Together, we can outdo the scourge of drug and substance abuse.
There is no telling how long the battle will last, but tireless efforts against such misdemeanour could warrant a conducive environment for us and our posterity as a nation.
Online Reporter