Myths related to Drugs and Drug Abuse

Myths are what is popularly believed but in fact are false.
The general public has not properly understood drugs and
their effects. Many people become addicts due to false
notions related to drugs. Let us discuss some of them here:
1. Only weak individuals become addicts. The fact is
that the reverse is true: addicts become weak
individuals. No one starts using drugs to become
addicts. As we saw earlier, people begin to abuse drugs
for different reasons. Even at that stage an addict has
strong will power when it comes to getting the supply
of drugs. An addict will take any risk to maintain his
drug habit.
Besides, the strength of the will depends on motivation.
Motivation depends on priority. For the addict the
number one priority is the chemical, because it solves
all his problems. Thus the addict chooses to get the
chemicals more than any other thing to satisfy his/her
needs.
2. Drugs give mental and physical strength. Drugs can
change the reasoning capacity of the individual. So he
will be ready to do things which he was not capable of
doing without the influence of the drugs. Secondly the
strength that one gets is only a short-term measure.
Drugs also help a person to overcome inhibitions, and
fears and make him look like a courageous person.
3. Recreational use of drugs is not harmful. All illegal
drugs are harmful. They cause physical and
psychological changes in the user. Prolonged drug use
leads to addiction. Besides all drugs are expensive. They
make the user poor physically and financially. It also
encourages drug trafficking.
4. Everybody is taking drugs. The fact is that this is an
argument used by those who use drugs to gain
acceptability for their behaviour. Even if there are many
people using drugs the majority of the people do not
use drugs. Peer pressure is difficult to cope with and it
takes more courage and strength to stand up to what
is right and to resist drugs. Everybody is not using
drugs.
5. Drugs help to forget failures and painful events of
life. The fact is that it helps you forget only as long as
the effect of the chemical lasts, for one to three hours!
It works only for the time being. It is like burying
problems alive; the ghost will come back to haunt you
the next day.
6. Drugs help to keep peer group status. The fact is
that the peer group has no status all those who drink
are drinking because they cannot stop drinking. They
want to stop but cannot. The status the peer group
pretends to have is unreal and unhealthy.
7. Drugs improve your concentration. The fact is that it
is feasting on borrowed money. Drugs can increase
mental performance, but they certainly kill the brain
cells in the long run. Students and individuals who
need longer periods of work or study use drugs. But
many of them get addicted to them, and in the long
run, they die very young. Poet Byron was a brilliant
poet, but an alcoholic who died in his twenties.

Therefore one needs to be very careful in responding to all
types of talks which go around regarding the use of drugs.
Conclusion
Drug abuse is a complex phenomenon, which has various
social, cultural, biological, geographical and economical
aspects. The disintegration of the old joint family system,
absence of parental love and care in modern families where
both parents are working, decline of old religious and moral
valus etc. lead to the rise in the number of drug addicts
who take drugs to escape hard realities of life. The process
of industrialization, urbanisation and migration has led to
loosening of the traditional method of social control
rendering an individual vulnerable to the stresses and
strains of modern life.