Stop Substance Abuse

Bini Dahal

I recently saw a young boy aged around 17 lying on the roadside near my house. It was 10 an m. He seemed to be in a semi-conscious state. Each time he tried taking a step forward, he would fall back. After multiple attempts, the boy’s body had given up and it was evident as he took a two-hour long nap on the roadside.

Anyone could tell from his abnormal behavior that he had had some kind of substance. He was just a sight for everyone passing by.

The above incident is just a small representation of a growing trend of substance abuse in Nepal. The substance here can be alcohol, cigarette, and even drugs. We find more and more individuals, especially the young population, trying drugs to the point that it has become an addiction.

The reason behind this habit are many – it could be a coping mechanism for stress or peer pressure or even a perspective that life is all about gaining a certain level of experience. A lack of the desired level of public awareness and effective enforcement of laws could be facilitating all these reasons, leading to the abuse of different kinds of psychoactive substances. 

According to scientific research, substance abuse leads to the activation of that part of the brain which is responsible for the release of dopamine. Known as a feel-good hormone, dopamine produces a feeling of euphoria among substance abusers. So, once aware of this feeling, our brain is wired to ask for more, leading to a continuous cycle of addiction. 

Individuals who are addicted to substances might suffer from multiple health issues and these could include cancer, lung diseases, worsening mental health conditions (depression, apathy, and withdrawal among others), or heart disease.

Despite such potential health problems, there is a group of people who lacks awareness of the effect that these substances can have on human health. However, the other group, despite having the knowledge and awareness, tends to give a blind eye to this. The pleasure that they receive from substances makes them completely ignorant. 

How we can make individuals cope better with different difficult situations in life remains to be a major probing question. Acting out of character and making a joke of yourself in front of people is surely a bad sight. But a bigger problem is that we are slowly losing touch with our reality. Substance abuse can cause a country to lose its most productive, efficient, and creative youth population.

Likewise, our society can get plagued with issues of crime and unwanted happening all caused by the unconsciousness brought by substances. Hopefully, substance abuse will not be a factor that will cause us to get completely lost in a world that is far from our reality. 

For this, the individuals themselves, family members and the government should work together to tackle this matter. We need to make sure that the present and future generations are not drowned in the issues of drug abuse, destroying their lives, future, and their ability to think creatively and contribute to society.

After all, the country’s development depends upon the quality of its youth population. And these pillars of the nation have the ability and enthusiasm to do something. It is just that substance should not be the determining factor showing the direction of their life.