Every other day we hear this disturbing news about drug addiction consuming our young generation. The news stories about drug peddlers being nabbed, or drugs seized, or some young lives lost to this menace, are so common that the shock value has gone down considerably.
But beyond news stories, statements by civil society actors, and announcements by relevant government agencies, there is a general sense of unease and anxiety in the society; and it is only deepening. At the family level parents are too worried about this rising prevalence of drug addiction. This has brought lots of stress to parents and it is now telling upon the general family well-being.
Though the parents have a tremendous role in sensitizing their children about this menace, and bringing them up in a manner that they don’t fall prey to his evil, but alone they cannot do it. It is not possible to keep our children cut off from other interactions in the society. After all they have to go to school and meet their friends. They have to move out and go to market and rub shoulders with strangers.
They have to walk into different societal spaces and interact with different kinds of people. Bringing them up in a family bubble, and imposing a kind of isolation on them will have its own harmful effects on their personalities. So, practically, it is not possible to avoid the interactions where the chances of them going astray are high. The problem of drug addiction is multi faceted, and its different dimensions need specialized attention.
Parenting is just one part of it. Unless all the organs of our society pool their efforts, and ensure a cooperative and collaborative effort, no worthwhile success can be achieved in saving our children from this deadly menace. Unless all the stakeholders come together, and frame a collaborative policy, it would be difficult to defeat this evil called drug addiction. Most importantly unless the law enforcing agencies keep a strict vigil on the criminal elements who peddle drugs; unless they are penalised the way they should be, no breakthrough can be achieved. All of us, government and society, must wake up to this danger and make a strenuous effort to root out this evil.