The major cities of India are in the grip of the drug menace. This devastating vice finishes off the addicts by debilitating them physically and psychologically. A seminar on Drug Abuse held recently in Madras has painted a horrible picture of this malady. The most disturbing fact is that the university campuses, college premises and school grounds nourish this evil more and more.
Drug addiction implies physical dependence upon a drug including the development of tolerance and withdrawal. An addict who develops tolerance requires more of the drug to transport him to the world of fantasies. If the addict is not allowed to take the drug he suffers from painful and uncontrollable convulsions, vomiting, depression and various other maladies.
Many drugs give the user a kick eradicating frustrations and adversities that life throws in his way. What they forget or do not understand is that the problems drowned in drugs come back with a vengeance to torment them once the effect wears off. The addicts’ endeavour, is escapist and it is doomed to catastrophic failure even before it begins.
Drugs used by the addicts, particularly in India may be categorised into narcotics, hallucinogens, stimulants and sedatives. Marijuana, opium, heroin, barbiturates and amphatamines are all habit-forming drugs. Marijuana is the Indian hemp, its tetrahydro-cannabinol content is the real drug content and its largest concertration is in the flowering top of the plant. The resin collected from the tops of potent cannabis sativa is called hashish. It is considered to be five times stronger than marijuana. Side-effects of this drug are greater and more injurious. These drugs which are inhaled in smoke-rolled into cigarettes. But both marijuana and hashish can be added to food and drink. As soon as its smoke is inhaled eyes become red, heart beat increases and usually the smoker coughs. Hunger and drowsiness normally follow inhalations of smoke. The smoker gets distortions of visions and hearing. He loses all the sense of time though the smoker thinks that his thoughts have become clear and better. Hallucinations and delusions may also happen. Unfounded suspicion of anything accompanied by anxiety, uncontrolled laughter or weeping and irrational mental fixations also are noticed. Hallucinogens are drugs that provoke changes in sensation, thought process, self-awareness and emotion. Aberrations in the perceptions of time and space happen, illusion, delusion or hallucination may vary in intensity in accordance with the dosage inhaled. Marijuana smokers stand the danger of ceasing to become “high” on smoke and may have to take recourse to heavier drugs. And the results produced by the same amount of drug may vary in the same person depending upon circumstances.
LSD (Lysergic Acid) is the most powerful hallucinogen. Its intake dilates pupils of the eyes, flushes the face, raises body heat and heart beat. Blood pressure shoots up and the person feels chilly. Convulsions occur but rarely. As the effect of the drug wears off the symptoms disappear. Vision is most markedly affected, perception of the objects is distorted. The subject experiences transferred emotions; he may consider music just a picture. It can also fill the person with horror. Thus, extreme euphoria or insufferable terror is the result. Consequences are unpredictable-the extreme being homicide or suicide. The most detrimental effects of LSD is flashback. Such flashbacks can cause extreme anxiety.
Amphetamines called stimulants are supposed to increase alertness, increase vigour and reduce hunger. Medically it is used to reduce depression. Stimulants known as `appers’ or `pep pills’ are taken in capsules or tablets. They are also taken through inhalations or through injections. Some inject massive doses intravenously from one to a dozen times a day. This type of user is called a speed freak. In ordinary quantities it provides a temporary sense of alertness and well being. Hunger is reduced and the performance of an exhausted person improves. But intravenous intake in large quantities gives an ecstasy high for some time. Once it wears off, reinjection is needed. This goes on till the person breaks down physically followed by collapse and death. Social, familial and moral values erode.
Sedatives induce sleep and are capable of reducing tension taken in small doses. The largest group of sedatives is from barbiturates. Taken without medical supervision people may take over-doses and then become habituated. These drugs are called gold balls, sleepers and downers. Tranquilisers calm, relax and diminish anxiety. They may cause drowsiness also. A strong desire to take drugs develops. If a person takes a few barbiturate pills after drinking he may succumb to death. Barbiturates taken with narcotics, alcohol or tranquilisers can also prove fatal.
Narcotics relieve pain; opium and its active components such as morphine and heroin belong to this group. Morphine is bitter in taste. Opium has 10 percent morphine content. Dialetyl morphine hydrochloride is prepared by the action of an antibride on morphine. When mixed with sugar and other ingredients, this is called brown sugar. It is taken orally or by injecting intravenously. It is smoked in the Chinese way also. It accounts for about 90 percent of the drug intake. It has no medicine value.
People in all kinds of pain take heroin for relief. Pure heroin if injected can kill within minutes. Unclean implements used for injections may lead to viral hepatitis, skin abscess, inflammation of veins and congestion of the lungs. The addict may become prone to Tuberculosis.
Drug addiction reduces sober time available to a person. The personality of the addict is destroyed and his emotions become intense and distorted. Fertility is reduced and children born may have serious illness and withdrawal symptoms. The Indian government is making an all-out effort to check this diabolic trafficking of the drug.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
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