From Drug To Dragon: A Challenge To Society

The reasons people turn to drugs very from region to region and nation to nation and also differ between age brackets, ethnic traditions, rural and urban environment and level of income. Different drugs also pose different attraction. It is worthwhile to observe that the drug-decade, 1980-90, with the emergence of smack on the drug scenario has dramatically influenced the drug consuming trend as addiction to smack has suddenly infiltered from affluent to the lowest section of the society. Hence without any adequate psychological explanation grass-smoker public school students has been replaced by smack addict rag-pickers and chain-snatchers. Similarly college and university going girls have shifted from mild tranquilizers such as compose and mandrex to harder and dangerous drugs; heroin, crack and cocaine. The more disturbing and traumatic change is that a good number of literate, semi literate and illiterate jhuggi dweller-women, prostitutes and dancing girls have become victims of smack. Women belonging to the lower and the lowest sections of society, under compulsion of hard cracing, have become peddlers. Why school and college going students take drugs? Has present system of education not contributed and added to the frustration of the unemployed degree holders to seek an easy escape in drugs? Who are these muderers of sentiments of the educands who already have suffered enough because of uncongenial home atmosphere? Working children is yet another increasing but neglected force of the tail of twentieth century. How many of these earning children are victims of socially accepted, semi-accepted and non-accepted drugs? Why do aged persons take drugs? Is an interesting question to ponder over. To seek shelter in drugs? Many such curious questions have been widely discussed in the present research oriented work supplemented with a questionnaries to assess the addict-population.