Pubdate: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 Source: Kathmandu Post, The (Nepal) Copyright: 2005 Kathmandu Post Contact: http://www.nepalnews.com/feedback.html Website: http://www.kathmandupost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/222 Author: Sneha Moktan Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) INTERNATIONAL ANTI-DRUG DAY - - Drug Addiction, Curable & Preventable, But Not Without Support Clean-shaven, well dressed, good looking and a perfect gentleman to the casual eye. Then the very same person undergoes a sudden transformation; the eyes get a glazed look, the handsome face gets contorted as a sudden hunger takes over. Doesn't it sound like a typical Dr Jeckyll aE" Mr Hyde syndrome? Well, this is how a person gets converted when his body craves for the slow poison aE" drug. The world over, Anti-Drugs Day will be celebrated today. Nepal too is facing a period where it is losing hundreds of its youth to the jaws of this lethal addiction. What is it that drives these promising young people to take the first sniff? What is it that keeps them coming back for more? What is it that people need to be oblivious about by taking drugs? Shridhar Sharma, councilor at Aasra drug rehabilitation center and a rehabilitated addict himself, points out four crucial factors that induce one to take drugs, "The need for false bravado and courage, lack of parental care, peer pressure and a desire to display heroism". Among all the aforementioned factors lack of parental care seems to be the one main cause that results in people seeking satisfaction in drugs. Ritesh, a young boy of 23 years, says that it was his alienation from his parents and the subsequent dependence on 'friends' and seniors in school that introduced him to the intoxicating world of drugs. It was a rare self-realization that made him come to the rehab center. Min, another young inhabitant of Aasra, too attributes his crossover to drugs to the influence of friends in the hostel and the apparent nonchalance of his parents. What is surprising is the fact that Min says his mother knew about his 'gaanja' addiction for quite sometime. But she did not take any real action until a few years later. Arjun professes that it was the so-called 'cool' aura in movies that gangsters always had around them that made him turn to drugs. He too wanted to wear that cloak of excitement. Ultimately, it was his drug induced friend's death that made him realize the gravity of the situation and he admitted himself in the rehabilitation center. Gagan is only 24 years of age but he's already been in and out of rehab twice. He jokingly asserts that he had a drinking problem from the very beginning since it kind of "runs in the family". He met a girl and could not possibly approach her with his stinking breath. This is where brown sugar came into the picture. "Brown sugar and tablets cleared my alcohol smelling breath and even gave me the confidence to talk to the girl," he recounts. Sadly but predictably, it became an addiction. Talking about his second venture into drugs even after a term of rehabilitation he says, "After you are clean you start avoiding your old friends who were into drugs and then the new ones don't want to talk to you, even relatives start avoiding you." Then depression settles in and like Gagan said "an empty mind is the devil's workshop". Drugs seem like the only ally in the otherwise alienated world. Kamal is a 52-year-old, very jolly-hearted man. At an age where most drug addicts have already been cured or if not, then, met with a worse fate, this man jovially says, "I have been on drugs for the past 30 years, controlled drugs. It was only in the last two years that things got out of hand." This man was the principal of a school. He would take drugs every evening. After retirement he grew restless and drugs seemed like the only way out. He says his wife and daughter tricked him into coming to the rehab center but now that he's here he is glad they did. They have been in rehab for a period of 2-4 months. Some stay for longer. They are there because they made a mistake and they know they made a mistake. They will be back in society soon: a normal person like you and me. Don't treat them like outcasts; don't drive them back to the devils they've escaped from. If you know someone who needs help, get help for him or her. Above all remember "Prevention is better than cure". Be the parent who understands his/her child, be the friend who leads one to the right path, be the sympathetic shoulder. And to those who even contemplate getting "high" on the treacherous 'joy-ride' listen to what Gagan had to say, "Ek chhin ko sukha, jindagi bhari ko dukkha." A moment's pleasure, a lifetime of pain. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom