Funday Times

Dangers of the drug menace
‘Narcotics free young generation for Mother Lanka’ was the theme of a timely release of a stamp to pinpoint the dangers of narcotics or to use the simpler word ‘drugs’. The stamp was issued to mark the Anti-Narcotics Week in June 2003 and highlight the dangers of taking drugs.

Illicit drugs (not the ones used for medicinal purposes) have become a serious problem in Sri Lanka, which is affecting the future development of the country. It is fast spreading among the youth resulting in committing crimes ranging from a simple burglary to murder. Crimes are done mainly to get money to buy these drugs, which are not available in the open market but sold illegally.

It is big business in the world where people earn an enormous lot of money through drug trafficking. We regularly hear of so many people trying to smuggle drugs into our country. They are from various nationalities and come from numerous destinations. They bring the drugs in numerous ways mostly hidden among other goods. We also hear of cases when they consume these in various ways - often in unimaginable fashion. It is only when the Customs officers get tipped off that these smugglers are caught at the airport.

Drugs are commonly known as ‘the devil’s brew’ that generates situations leading to theft, murder, illegal use of firearms and other forms of organized crime. These in turn lead to unrest in society affecting the smooth flow of life. Family lives are disrupted and when the father of a family or an elder son starts on drugs, it leads to disunity and unhappiness.

The term Narcotics was originally applied to all compounds that produce insensibility to external stimuli through depression of the central nervous system. Now it is primarily used to denote drugs known as opiates - compounds extracted from the opium poppy and their chemical derivatives.

The most important attribute of narcotics is their capacity to decrease pain. They also cause a feeling of well-being or joy. It is this feeling that most people want to get by taking drugs. As one goes on taking them, the body develops a condition where it requires larger and larger doses to achieve the same effect. This leads to addiction, which makes the user yearn for more and more. He needs money to buy more and more drugs. That is how drug addicts become criminals. Thus a vicious cycle is created.

Both the Government and voluntary organizations aremaking a desperate effort to curb this social menace. Various programmes are being implemented to save the younger generation from this dangerous habit, which affects an individual both physically and mentally. During the Drug Prevention Week, several programmes were held at regional levels with the help of religious places, police and schools to create awareness of the dangers of taking drugs and emphasise on the need to control it.

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