The Herald (Zimbabwe)

Drug, substance abuse: The future in limbo

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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.

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