Youth and drugs
The past couple of years have seen youths indulge in drugs more than any other time in the recent history. What bothers more is not the fact that they have become so much tied to drug use, but that they sometimes contemplate self-destruction and other social ills such as robbery and other forms of violent practices. It makes them drop out of high schools and colleges. Their productivity diminishes and they become burdensome and overly dependent on parents. This is an adaption of a research I conducted to delve into the plight of youth addicts and some of the solutions that befit them. However, if it goes unchecked, then the fight to have a productive youth population might never be won. It again means a future that is uncertain because the youth of today is the adult of tomorrow and an integral part of that future, politically, economically and socially. To have a promising future therefore, we need to work towards rehabilitation of the youths immersed in drug addiction. They can then be enrolled to special schools and institutions where they get specialized training that may help them fend for themselves in their lives and become independent citizens (National Drug Intelligence Center, 2010).
History tells us that there was not so much indulgence among the youth as we can note in the past couple of years. Dating five decades ago in the 1950s and 1960s, the youths were more heeding to their parents’ advice on matters of immense importance to their livelihoods than they appear to be today. A culture has developed among the youth that the ideas of the older generations have become inapplicable to the problems of the present generation and therefore parents have little to offer in so far as today’s challenges are concerned. This is argued to be a pure product of the media whose content sometimes goes unchecked, thereby having a destructive influence among the youth. In the past, the media existed but its importance was limited to national and international news. There was not so much negative and youth unfriendly content.
Problems Associated with Youth Indulgence and Addiction
Absenteeism from school and work is a common scenario among the youth addicts. When we talk youth here, we mean a young population aged between 16 and 35 years. In this age bracket, one is either attending high school, going to college/university, looking for a job or doing their first job after college or university. Drug addiction creates some depression that keeps one out of school or work. This often leads to expulsions from school or work. A scenario like this creates a jobless and/or illiterate population that is too dependent on the older working population.
Violence and social evils are other problems associated with youth addiction. When they can’t attend schools/colleges and jobs anymore, they can find solace in other activities that pose threat to the productive population. They would want to translate their unused energy to social ills and acts of terror and violence. This is basically because they are not engaged in any productive activities that can earn them some income, so they resort to risky living as a way of satisfying their basic needs (Lowinson, J.H. et al., 2005). This transfer of energy from harmless and economically productive activities to violence has led to the government of the United States spending huge proportions of its budget in combating terror and violence in almost all of the states.
Street living is another result of drug addiction among the youth. Some of the addicts usually spill to the streets and spend the majority of their lives there. While in the streets, they discover survival mechanisms to make up for their depression which results from addiction. They get access to weapons such as handguns which they use to terrorize others. Besides, the government spends a lot of money in trying to rehabilitate street families, feeding them and making sure they get access to basic items. Some have become so addicted to street life that it becomes difficult to rehabilitate them and have them lead productive lives away from the streets.
Suggested Solutions
Some of the solutions suggested include a concerted monitoring of the media content that have bad influence on the youth. This move would help the government to make sure some of the movies and media items that are rated are not viewed by the unintended age brackets. For instance if a program is rated 25, it should be ensured that only people over 25 years of age because it may have a bad influence on a younger population.
There is also the parental role to be played if the war against drug addiction among the youth is to be won. Parents are obliged to keep their children closer to them so that they are able to understand their problems and help them come up with solutions. This is the most effective approach because parents have more contact time with their children whereas the government operates somewhere out of the door (Rehm, J., 2009). The only time the government comes in is when those children are taken to correctional facilities for wrongdoing.
There is also need to incorporate a campaign on the dangers of addiction in the media content and in the school curriculum. That way, children grow up understanding the mess that drug addiction can create. They learn to refrain from drug use based on the lessons they learn.
The fight against youth addiction should be taken as a matter of importance among the stakeholders because if it is not dealt with in time, its effects are carried forward into the future and this can only result in a less economically, politically and socially productive future of a family unit and a nation by extension.
References
Lowinson, J.H. et al. (Eds.) (2005). Substance Abuse: A Comprehensive Textbook (4th ed.).
Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
National Drug Intelligence Center (2010). National Threat Assessment: The Economic Impact Of
Illicit Drug Use On American Society. Washington DC: United States Department of
Justice.
Rehm, J. (2009). Global Burden of Disease and Injury and Economic Cost Attributable to
Alcohol Use and Alcohol Use Disorders, New York: Lancet Publishers.
