☰

Drug addiction may trigger social disintegration

Sazedul Islam | Published: February 28, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00

Drug addiction has become so pervasive that it has now turned into a big problem in our country, affecting directly young generation and teenagers. Females are also taking to the negative path, resulting in severe social problem. Our national interest is at stake due to the problem. All-out efforts are needed to save our youths.     
Addiction is a form of disease, which poses a series of negative consequences on emotional wellbeing, physical health and professional life.
The bad effects which ensue due to drug addiction are paranoia, aggressiveness, hallucinations, addiction, impaired judgment, impulsiveness and loss of self-control.
Academic results suffer and, even worse, drugs undermine health and destroy young lives.
Drug addiction affects almost every aspect of life. Your ability to concentrate may be diminished, your mood may fluctuate and your interests will likely change as drug cravings become compulsive.
Medical concerns like depression and anxiety can severely interrupt your social and professional life, leading to mood swings, chronic fatigue and diminished interest in important life-events.
Drug abuse hurts the people who take drugs and the people around them, including families, kids, and babies who are not yet born.
Drug abuse is a gruesome menace in the society with grave biological, social, financial, psychological and security effects on the individuals, families and the community. In Bangladesh, about 80 per cent of the drug addicts are adolescents and young men of 15 to 30 years of age.
Drug addiction is a threat to the family. Because of the hostile behavior of the drug abusers, the family is at risk. Normal activities of the family are disrupted due to anti-social activities of the abusers. The drug addict youth drops out from school/college or university education. The service holder loses his job because of irregularities. Social isolation and alienation are very common. Family of the drug addict becomes isolated from the community. The drug abuser swallows the lion's share of family income because of buying drugs. Treatment is also very expensive.
Drug abuse alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between brain cells.
Drug abuse directly influences the economic and social aspects of a country.
In Bangladesh, it is a growing national concern. It is turning severe as drug addiction is not only confined to males. Females are also being addicted to drugs and their number is increasing in our country.  
According to Addiction Management and Integrated Care (AMIC) programme of Dhaka Ahsania Mission, the tendency of taking drugs among our women is increasing day by day. The matter of using drugs by females is more complex than male. Females are physically risky and they are also victims of social discrimination. Besides, female drug addicts do not easily admit their guilt compared to male addicts who easily admit their crime.
Men are more likely to have problems with drugs than women are. However, progression of addictive disorders is known to be faster in females.
According to a survey report by ICDDR,B (carried out several years ago), of the total drug addicts in Bangladesh, 20.6% are women.
According to a survey of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2014, a total of 176 women drug addicts were interviewed in Bangladesh and most of them, who were in the age range of 28, were addicted to yaba and heroin.    
According to AMIC, most female drug addicts, aged below 20, have been found taking yaba while most middle aged female drug addicts are found to be taking sedative drugs.
Females took to the path of drug addiction due to different reasons than males. Peer pressure, frustration, economic cause, imitation of western culture, complexity over love relations and family background of taking drugs are mostly the causes for which women take to the path of drug addiction. Besides, wrong parenting style and early marriage are two other important causes. Many women resorted to drugs due to mental diseases.                
"Female drug addicts are affected both mentally and physically. Many of them lose their moral and mental values due to addiction for a long time. Their families also suffer from severe frustration", said Jannatul Ferdous, counsellor of AMIC.    
Though drug addiction has posed a serious threat, there has been no remarkable research on the situation of female drug addicts. There is also dearth of centre for rehabilitating and proving treatment to the victims.
There should be sufficient treatment and rehabilitation centres to provide need-based appropriate and quality treatment service to the drug users. Counselling both to the clients as well as to their family members is needed to change their attitudes towards each other. Life skill training is required to reduce the risk of behavioral pattern and to cope with the circumstances. There should be vocational skill development training for economic rehabilitation of the recovering drugs users, together with referral services for jobs.
It is needed to change the behavioral pattern of female drug addicts, impart them with moral education and build them in such atmosphere so that they can solve their own problems of life along with medical treatment. Other programmes need to be taken up for improving relations between the addicts and their family members, said AMIC.
Different research studies showed that only medicine-dependent treatment system played little role in keeping drug addicts from drugs. The behavior and thought pattern of female drug addicts change due to addiction, hence, measures should be taken for changing the behavior and thought patterns. The issue of behavioral change has been considered as important along with treatment at different parts of the world.
Affected women need psychological counselling along with treatment. The issue of drug is a mental and habitual problem. When a woman falls in the trouble, she loses her life skill. Psycho-social education is one of the processes by which she can come out of the problem.
The families of female drug addicts are affected in different ways. In Bangladesh's current social system, families of drug addicts are judged negatively. Hence, family level meeting is needed to be held to raise awareness among the affected family members, to enhance skill of the drug addicts and provide them psychological support along with treating the addicts. This is an important matter for treating the drug addicts. Family counselling and participation in the meeting is an urgent matter for the family members.
Counsellors and psychologists should do the counselling work in such a manner that drug addicts can take right decision and improve their mental situation after correcting their mistakes and they can improve relations with their family members.
If unchecked, drug addiction may imperil our social system. It is hoped that all concerned would play their due role to eradicate the menace to build a better Bangladesh.      

The writer, a journalist, can be contacted at ssssss.1969@gmail.com

Share if you like