Substance abuse disorder is also known as drug addiction. It is a disease that affects a person’s brain and behavior. It is an inability to control the use of drugs legal or illegal. Substances like nicotine, marijuana, and alcohol are also considered drugs. You may continue the use of the drug even if it is harming you on a serious note. It all can start from the simple use of recreational drugs and suddenly you want it more every day. The risk of addiction and how fast you get addicted depends on the type of drug you are using. Once you start, it becomes hard to end the cycle. As time passes you need large doses of drugs to get higher. You may need the drug just to feel good.
Symptoms of addiction may include:
- Feeling that you have to use drugs daily
- Having intense urges for drugs
- Needing more drugs
- Using the larger amount of drugs
- Not meeting necessary societal and family obligations.
- Getting into illegal activity to get more drugs
- Failing in your attempts to stop using drugs
- Experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Drug addiction causes uncontrollable behaviors. It is not always an obvious problem. Drug addiction starts small. How fast one can become an addict varies from person to person. Causes may be genetic and environmental. Dopamine and serotonin are the neurotransmitters that are related to addiction. Risk factors include
- Family history
- Mental health problems
- Adverse childhood experience
- Social pressure
- Lack of family support
- Early use of drugs
- Use of drugs that are highly addictive
The major reasons of drug abuse are pressure caused by the peer (96%), educational stress (90%).
According to United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Pakistan has 6.7 million drug users. More than four million are addicts, amongst the highest number for any country in the world. According to a 2020 research article published in Elsevier, the first step towards drug addiction is smoking. It all starts with smoking. Researchers also say that drug use in movies promotes the drug culture. Drugs are extremely cheap and easy to get in Pakistan. You just need to call a dealer of a specific area and you get whatever you ask for. Abuse of Cannabis and heroine is rife in the country. Almost every other university student has at least tried the drugs out. Some even sell drugs in the university and get drunk in classes. Most of the drugs come from Afghanistan, the country that is responsible for at least 75% of the world’s heroine. The number of drugs (Cannabis) users is high in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. In Pakistan, the total number of drug addicts as per the UN report is 7.6 million, where 78% are males and 22% are females. The number of addicts is increasing at the rate of 40,000 per year making Pakistan one of the most drug-affected countries in the world. In a seminar in 2018, Hammad Dogar, director of the anti-narcotics force said 67% of university students in Pakistan use illicit drugs. The government of Pakistan needs to take the necessary steps to eradicate this issue and tackle it carefully. We need to use soft methods and hard methods also to get rid of this issue from Pakistan. Otherwise, it will keep increasing day by day. Eagle force is now appointed to tackle such issues. Islamabad police start Eagle squad, training on pattern of Dolphin force, systematically traps the whole drug dealer squad and drug addicts by dialing into their numbers and catching them individually. Islamabad police have formally started training of its Eagle squad on the pattern of Dolphin force Punjab. The officials of the Dolphins force and police training school Islamabad were imparting training to the personnel of Eagle Squad, said DIG Afzal Ahmed Kausar. Eagle Force has strengthened our law enforcement agencies. The force patrol each and every street. They have been trained to have complete evidence and investigate incidents. It will restore durable peace in the city.
