Shaila Nazir
Drugs are an evil that keeps growing stronger with each passing day. And just as every evil has a bad ending, the end that drugs lead to is not only bad but terrifying and life-threatening. Is it not strange? You talk about this evil, I talk about it, we all talk about it and yet this evil keeps moving ahead of us.
We all know what drugs are and what their consequences are. There is no place left where awareness has not been spread. Homes, villages, cities, schools, colleges, institutions. Everywhere the same slogan: Stop drugs. Even cigarette packs carry images and warnings saying they are deadly. What more could be done?
A person who smokes picks up that packet, opens it, and sees that image. He sees his own possible end. But has he ever tried to understand it? Has he ever convinced himself that this is harmful to his health? No. Everyone is busy advising others. People are tired of hearing the same arguments daily. What drugs are, their causes, how to save others. But have we ever looked at ourselves in the mirror and said, “Smoking is injurious to health, I should quit”? No.
Have our hands ever trembled while picking up a cigarette pack after seeing those pictures? Has a father, sitting among his children and blowing smoke into the air, ever thought about how it affects his family? The same father who sends his son to buy cigarettes will later give lectures in awareness camps. It is even worse when daughters are asked to buy cigarettes.
The truth is, all these seminars, awareness camps, and programs are worthless until we make ourselves understand this reality. In psychology, there is a term called “introspection”, which means looking within oneself. How many of us have truly done that? Even our religion teaches us to reflect on our daily actions before going to sleep so we can recognise our good and bad deeds. But forget every evening. We hardly reflect on ourselves at all.
Every change begins from within. And if change comes in you and me, it spreads to the family, then to society, and eventually to the nation.
Parents are the first teachers of a child. Who can understand a child better than them? Nowadays, it is said that parents should be like friends to their children. But not to the extent that respect disappears, and not so distant that the child is left without any check at all.
A child comes home late in the evening, enters the house without even talking to the parents, stays on the phone with friends, and goes straight to his room. The mother sets the table and calls him from downstairs instead of going up and seeing what he is doing. In the morning, if the child wakes up late, it is assumed he must have been tired. But no one asks why he slept late or what kept him awake. If by chance the family sits together in the evening, they hardly look at each other since mobile phones have trapped all of them. Four members of a family, sitting in four corners of a room, each busy with their own phone. So how can a father or a mother look at their child’s face and notice something is wrong? Noticing unusual behaviour is too much to expect in such a situation.
There is no monitoring of pocket money. Where it is spent, who the friends are, what kind of company the child keeps. These things go unasked and unchecked.
Teachers are like second parents. They should observe if any child shows unusual behaviour in class, such as irregularity, lack of punctuality, inattentiveness, or confusion. Checking bags or pockets is possible too. More importantly, if a case is identified, they should talk to the child and try to understand why this behaviour exists.
No one is born a drug addict or a drug peddler. Not everyone does it just for pleasure. Let them express themselves. What is forcing them into this? Perhaps a word spoken at the right time can change everything.
Reporting is another issue. How many of us try to stop someone when we see them involved in such activities? How many inform the police? Almost none. Instead, we take out our phones, record videos, and make them go viral, showing someone in a state of ruin. We enjoy the likes, shares, and comments, as if we have achieved something. We take pleasure in destroying someone’s dignity. Their mind may have stopped working, but ours, and our conscience, have also died.
In short, everyone knows what drug addiction is and what it does to health, family, resources, and the nation. But when it comes to ourselves and our own contribution, everyone reacts the same way: “What is it to me?”
We organise programs, click pictures, make videos go viral, and keep repeating the same arguments every day, boring those who listen. This is who we are. This is how we claim to fight drug addiction.
Every day, at every program, we take a pledge to make our homes, societies, and country free of drugs. Yet every day, we witness cigarette packs being sold in large numbers, drugs being dispensed from stores without hesitation, poppy being grown in homes, and cannabis plants growing in streets and fields.
What will change with just lectures? If you want to bring change, be the change.
Iqbal R.A has quoted with depth of meaning:
“Apne mann mein dhoob kar paa ja surag-i-zindagi,
Tu agar mera nahi banta na bann, apna toh bann.”
The Author is PG Psychiatry, Tutor, Islamic University of Science and Technology (IUST) (The opinions and insights expressed are the author’s own.)
