The Dread That Haunts Mothers, Especially - Drug Addiction | VII

Discussing the concept of freedom is a challenge, especially with young students. Most of the students would agree that they ought to be given the freedom to make decisions, parents need to have faith in them, and they certainly do not want parents constantly hovering around them. There always was a discussion on this concept in philosophy class, and there used to be many voicing their opinions and raising points. I would always ask them a question, if their younger siblings join college after some years, would they give them freedom to experience everything? Would they allow them to try all the things without question? Would they give them the space to learn from their experience, what is going wrong too? There used to be uneasy silence for some time,' Yes ' was never the answer for a long time, but openly no one would be ready to say 'No' for an answer.


Mostly the explanation was that the younger siblings need to be told about some choices that are not in their interest. They ( younger siblings) would not be able to differentiate between Good and Bad choices. I would ask them if you expect the parents to have faith in you, why can you not have faith in their ability to make decisions? There never was a satisfactory answer to this. Now I feel even parents too feel their children are not mature enough to make some decisions. Sometimes their anxiety compels them to interfere or advise even though it is not solicited. Of course,  the parents also need to interact with a deft hand, probably they need to learn to communicate cautiously keeping the desired effect in mind.

Many parents who are professionals opined on the problem of drug addiction, they always come across cases around them. It makes them worried, restless or uneasy. Some wrote that it is not easy to deal with young children, all of them are somewhat unprepared to deal with such problems. An experienced professional and a college teacher expressed his worries, he too stated that in the present time giving space to children is necessary, but, it is really difficult to maintain balance.

Today all children face an unfair and incredibly competitive world, and their curious minds try to find satisfactory solutions independently of their parents. They do not discuss disclose or share their problems with parents easily, sometimes they share their problems with peers, but they are also equally inexperienced. At the same time many parents fail or are unable to perceive the conflict, sometimes understanding the issue or lending a sympathetic ear is not done. Maybe parents do not realise the gravity or seriousness of the point, thus their response lacks warmth. They mostly expect the child to concentrate on academics as there is hardly anything else to advise. Some of the parents are professionals and are successful also, but their remarks do not help in any way. (This may be perceived as inconsiderate by children, the original expression used by the teacher is insensitive)

The second point raised is that children are raised with overprovisioning or fairly advanced provisioning. Parents think their children must get a better environment, and better facilities as compared to what they could get young, that too what they consider as good or essential. They are always a step ahead, when the child attempts to stand, parents are ready with a walker. The child starts walking and parents are ready with a bicycle. This probably spoils the child. This leaves no time to feel the need and demand something. Some say there is a lot of joy in getting something when one figures out the needs. It is a process of evaluating the future wants.

Similar is the case with shopping, it is now a fun activity, not based on the need of the time. Everything is bought before the child demands. This sometimes results in something more serious, children cannot take rejection as an answer in any case or any phase of life, Simple rejections cause sometimes depression and even a child may try addiction as an escape root. Getting rejected or not being able to achieve something even though one deserves it, are the hard facts of life, everything does not work impartially. He urged parents to think on these points.

An experienced teacher and an educationist brought a very different point into the discussion. Her observation is that there is a myth that attracts many to consuming drugs. Many strongly argue that drugs boost creativity, it help one to transcend boundaries to enhance performance. Usually, they refer to very big names to support the argument, this is treated to be an essential element in the creative fields. The conclusion is, that entertaining drugs raise or augment creativity, even before the career begins. When someone treads on this path,there is no U-turn. There are many examples of artists who ruined their careers with drugs, many wrote about them, but probably such things are not paid attention to.

She put forth a point that should be discussed seriously. Many women want to portray themselves as bold, beautiful and cool, they too indulge in drugs. This, unfortunately, has consequences later, like retardation or autism ( actually there are possibilities of many more abnormalities, one of the experienced doctors confirmed it ) in children. This should certainly be avoided. This is a man-made Evil.

A senior professional pointed out that drug addiction is not new in our society, it is a deep-rooted problem. Unfortunately, any activity related to drugs is a means of quick, easy and huge money. ( of course till one is not apprehended by the concerned departments ) Many who work with the agencies that track and try to prohibit such activities, always agree that the fire ultimately consumes those who unnecessarily play with it. Many pointed out that to a great extent, this world of drugs gets support from higher level people too. So it is really challenging to break such unholy alliances. Senior officials always point out an important aspect of the problem that when the peddlers are caught or the stock of hazardous drugs is identified and destroyed, it is not the end of such activities. Basically, if the effective campaign is run at various levels, it might help. It needs an initiative at all levels, a dedicated team to help with counselling and treatment along with vigilance is required.

This was underlined by Jaya Ji from Arunachal Pradesh also. When the group of mothers work to irradicate the problem of drugs, and make every possible effort to save their children, they are threatened, there is a constant shadow of fear, and people try to intimidate or bully them often. They have turned fearless now, we all know that a mother can go to any extent to save her child.