An Overview of Drug Abuse

Drug abuse or substance abuse is a condition where drug which may include pharmaceutical drugs or other narcotic substances are consumed to get a high or a unparalleled sensation. This sensation, in the words of a drug addict, may be described as a ‘trip’ or a ‘kick’. Now, medically speaking this is nothing but a neurological excitation of the brain or better put, a set of complex hallucinations which the subject begins to enjoy.

Some of the factors that govern drug abuse are disturbed childhood, problem families, peer pressure, ease of availability, western culture, non availability of parents for supervisory duties and last but not the least availability of monetary resources. It begins with use of pocket money for the purchase of drugs, slowly but gradually leads to demand for money from parents and elders, borrowing it from a myriad of people that includes relatives, teachers, friends, and so on when denied at home, lying for the same, and ultimately even stealing money or articles which may not be highly valued but do get them money enough to get any drug – the use and abuse of which will give the consumer a high and allegedly shall take him on a ‘trip’.

Unlike alcohol, which when taken in moderation would not classify as abuse, drugs except the pharmacological preparations are almost always abused. Pharmacological preparations, schedule H drugs for example, are meant for patients and are strictly according to laws of almost all countries supposed to be sold against a prescription issued in duplicate. A copy of such medication is to be retained by the vendor as proof and to be filed with the concerned department. These laws are made so obviously stringent to prevent drug abuse and subsequent development of drug dependence.

The mechanism in which these drugs create addiction is by creating a physical and mental dependence on them. Abstinence from such preparations gives rise to a wide array of symptoms – both physical which includes tremors, sweating, redness of eyes, motor in co-ordination and so on and mental symptoms which includes irritability, disturbed sleep, insomnia, lack of concentration and so on and so forth.

Having delved into the meaning, the psychology and reasons for drug abuse and also the mechanism by which drugs induce a drug abuse or addiction pattern it is only natural to come up with means of preventing such drug abuse since prevention is indeed better than cure. One may prevent drug abuse by the correct upbringing of children, loving them yet not pampering them, always making themselves available for the children especially in the early formative years, exercising good supervisory duties in the childhood days, inculcation a strong sense of judgment and ability to take decisions in the children right from the beginning, rationing the finances forwarded to the children as pocket money, holding the kids liable to explanation as to the accounts of the alleged pocket money, ensuring that the kids keep good company as kids and even as grown ups to prevent any adverse peer pressure. Once the problem of drug abuse is at hand, gone is the time when preventive measures would work. At this stage what is required to begin with is medical intervention as initiation therapy continued over long patient years coupled with expert psychological counseling and behavior therapy, followed by only the latter as maintenance therapy.