Drug and alcohol abuse

Surveys and statistics show that use of drugs and alcohol has been on rise specially among the youth. This is really a cause of concern as it could result in many harmful effects. Proper education and guidance would enable youth to safeguard themselves against these dangerous behaviour patterns and follow healthy lifestyles. The drugs, which are commonly abused, are opioids ,cannabinoids and coca alkaloids. Majority of these are obtained from flowering plants some are obtained from fungi.

When these substances are taken for a purpose other than medical use, they can adverse effect on one’s physical and psychological functions and are called drug abuse.

There are many causes of adoloscent drug problems. Drug abuse develops over a long time it does not start as a full-blown abuse or addiction. There are different pathways or routes to the develop a drug problem in teens. Some of the factor that may place teens at risk for developing drug problems include: insufficient parental supervision and monitoring, lack of communication and interaction between parents and kids, poorly defined and poorly communicated rules and expectations against drug use, inconsistent and excessively severe discipline, family conflict, favourable parental attitude towards adolescent alcohol and drug use, and parental alcoholism or drug use.

It is also true that habits such a smoking, taking drugs or alcohol are more likely to be taken up at young age and more during adolescence.

Sum of the measures mentioned here would be particularly useful for prevention and control of alcohol and drug abuse among adolescents.

Avoid undue peer