Unemployment in the country
One of the major reasons of Drug addiction in YOUTH
Interview with Sidra Akhtar, Clinical Psychologist
Sidra Akhtar is a clinical psychologist who has been working since long an anti drug activist in Islamabad. She also runs a foundation that treats drugs addicted persons. When asked about the drugs addiction in Pakistan she tells us that The tremendous stress, rejection, fear and frequent bouts of depression that often result from being unemployed are high risk factors for the development of a drug use problem. Many people who are struggling with the negative effects of unemployment turn to alcohol or drugs to mitigate the discomfort and sense of helplessness they feel. This is a serious mistake, and it can destroy your entire life. Sidra states that Pakistan’s high unemployment rate is fuelling a culture of drug use among the country’s urban and rural youth. She says the trend is responsible for acts of violent crime, while medical practitioners are concerned about serious health repercussions for long-term users, which the country is poorly equipped to address.
Answering to a question about the role of Government she answered that PTI’s government as per it’s promise should take necessary measures to create job opportunities for youth of the country which is in huge proportion according to reports.
She added that it has been found during deep research that the key risk periods for drug abuse are during major transitions in children’s lives. Another big transition for children is when they leave the security of the family and enter school and it has been found that students of some of the elite private schools in Pakistan are indulging in drugs and this is very unfortunate that no authority is taking serious measures to stop this. Drug addiction is considered bad for many reasons and major among them all is that it destroys families. When a person starts drugs, for any reason, they don’t look through the boundaries. Each drug user can quit but it will need radical steps. Some drugs are easy to quit while others leave severe side effects. Once it is stopped for a while then it will be upon the person to go through that similar life cycle or leave it forever. There should be punishment only if there is a crime committed while being under the influence but if a person is going through any rough patch, it is better to help him because at the end of this darkest life, he will not have friends, families or even enemies.
The problem of drug addiction is all the more serious because the addicts are mostly young specially unemployed and school or college going boys and girls, the future of the country. So, it is imperative to see that such young boys and girls may, by no means, fall victim to drug addiction.
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