Teenage problems

Earlier last week, three teenagers ‘accidentally’ visited me. This trio happens to be in the same Grade 11 class at David Livingstone High School. They were looking for a particular media organisation but before I sent them to the office they were looking for, I had a chat with them to find out what they were up to.

These girls exhibited a kind of confidence that I rarely see in young people. They were on a mission to have their voices heard and from the look on their faces; nothing would be allowed to stand in their way.

One after the other, they expressed their concern over the various issues affecting teenagers in our country. Early marriages, teenage pregnancies, underage drinking and drug abuse were cited as being among the major challenges young people face. These girls felt that most teenagers do not engage in these vices willingly but find themselves treading on wrong paths due to lack of sensitisation on the dangers of engaging in unproductive behaviour.

That being the case, these girls sought to approach one media institution that operates on national level so they could be given a platform to discuss issues that affect young people.

I could not believe my ears. After all it is not everyday that 17-year olds express that kind of concern for their mates and go a step further by wanting to do something to improve the situation.

Among the issues brought up by the girls, drug abuse caught my attention. Many are the times we tell young people that it is wrong to do drugs; drugs will ruin your life and so on. But what we conveniently forget to mention is how drugs can ruin one’s life, if and when they are abused.

The kinds of drugs we are going to discuss in this article are not the natural or artificial ones given to treat, prevent, or diagnose a disease or to lessen pain but the types, which alter the organic functions and behaviour of those who take them. But bear in mind that a lot of people have been known to abuse prescribed drugs.

Anyway, alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are among the most abused drugs in our country and I strongly feel there is need for young people to understand the effects of these drugs.
Dr Julian Melgosa, author of To Adolescents and Parents has the following to say about the subject:

Alcohol - It is a widespread drug due to its social approval and its popularity contribute to more young people getting in the habit of consuming it. Consumers of alcohol feel happy and usually become talkative after taking it. If they continue drinking they become drunk and in the short term, alcohol makes one’s muscles (including the heart) numb. Sharpness of sight is lost, particularly at night and with artificial light. There may also be personality changes such as the person becoming more impatient and even aggressive.

In the long term, consumers of alcohol run a high risk of developing a chronic progressive disease of the liver characterised by the replacement of healthy cells with scar tissue, cancer of the mouth and oesophagus.

Other than that, the indirect risks of alcohol are even greater when you consider the number of people who die everyday after being involved in road traffic accidents resulting from the effects of alcohol.

Therefore, it is the duty of all of us to discourage alcohol consumption using whatever platform is available to us.

Tobacco - It is a drug with the lowest risk in the short term but in the long term, it takes away good health and life from a huge number of people. This is due to the fact that, smokers inhale poisonous substances such as tar, nicotine, and carbon monoxide. The most unfortunate thing about smoking is that the poisonous gas that comes from it can also affect non-smokers when they are close to the smoker as they can easily breathe in the deadly by-products.

You would be interested to know that tobacco produces its effects slowly. It can take years for one to see the results of smoking but despite this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) states that tobacco is among the first preventable causes of death.

Heart disease, cancer, strokes, bronchitis and ulcers are among the diseases caused by smoking tobacco. It is imperative for young people to understand that smoking may seem like a cool thing but it is definitely not worth risking one’s life over.

Marijuana - This drug is usually mixed with tobacco before being smoked. The effects are said to be quick and smokers feel relaxed, talkative and unworried about their problems. However, its regular smoking affects certain mental functions; it decreases memory, reasoning, and capacity to resolving problems as it disturbs the connection between neurons (cells that transmit nerve impulses and are the basic functional unit of the nervous system).

It also affects personal motivation, as those who take it regularly are usually unmotivated, apathetic, without goals or objectives, and without the wish to succeed in anything.

That is the more reason why young people should stay away from it. Everyone knows we can only have appropriate future leaders if we give young people proper guidelines and inculcate in them, a sense of responsible behaviour. It is important to always remind young people that drugs are bad because they attack the brain, create addiction, encourage physical dependency, promote psychological dependency and if used intravenously can increase the risk of contracting HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

If we continue sugarcoating what drugs can do to a young person (let alone an adult), then we are robbing our nation of potential future leaders. We need our young people’s minds to be unpolluted by drugs even as they prepare to take over the mantles of leadership at various levels in our society.




Source : www.zambiapost.com