Addiction & Its Chemistry
We received a call to
our child helpline on last Thursday from a teacher of a school. She said that
some of her students were using drugs and pressuring others to take drugs. Our team
met the school principal and fixed an awareness class on drug abuse. Our Success For Success (S4S) team in an effort
to empower children from different problems that face them; has been conducting
training for different stake holders as well as school children. It is an
alarming revelation that School children across Kerala are more and more exposed
to substance abuse and there is easy availability of the same.
“I was a good student
looking forward to the future. I liked my friends and started hanging out with
them… It all changed suddenly and I started using drugs. Now my life and my future have been compromised. I need help” This is one of the comments we
received during the S4S training class conducted in the school. Some students who were using drugs came to
meet us personally. Most of them who used drugs got into it through peer
pressure as well as lack of understanding about the consequences. We provided counseling
and involved the parents and school authorities to provide expert help for
children. We formed a task force involving children and responsible teachers to
trace how children receive drugs and pass information so that we could initiate
action against those responsible for destroying the lives of children.
Why are teenagers more prone to substance abuse?
The New
York University School of Medicine has spent years studying the way drugs act
on the brain. Among their findings is the fact that drugs begin to change a
user’s brain the very first time a drug is tried, with the drug-induced release
of a key brain neurotransmitter called dopamine. At first, dopamine causes an
intensely pleasurable feeling, but as time—and drug use—progresses, the brain
begins to rely upon this release of dopamine without any of the pleasurable
side effects. With time, drugs actually alter the way the brain uses dopamine. When
a person becomes addicted, it means that his brain has been changed to the point
that he needs the drug just to maintain a minimal or “normal” level of
functioning.
All this
has a special significance for teenagers. New studies have also discovered that
teens are more vulnerable to addiction than adults. The teenage brain is a wonderful
thing, changing and developing in response to experiences and environment.
Because the teen brain is still building itself, it is easy for a young person
to learn new things quickly. But that ability to be molded by outside
influences also carries a serious risk when a teen experiments with drugs
because such use can cause permanent damage. On top of that, research has shown
that a teen’s frontal lobes, the area of the brain responsible for
decision-making and planning, is still immature—making teens less likely to
consider the consequences of their actions and thus more likely to take
dangerous risks like using drugs.
When teens were surveyed
to find out why they started using drugs in the first place most of them
replied that it was due to pressure from their friends. They wanted to be cool
and popular. As the dealers know it they
will approach teens as a friend and offer to “help you out” with “something to
bring you up.” The drug will “help you fit in” or “make you cool.” Dealers will
say anything to get the teens to buy it because they are motivated by the
profit they make.
Overcome Craving
It is not so easy to say
“NO” to drugs. Friend may expect you to say “YES” to it. When a person first
takes drugs, it is voluntary decision. But there is a point when the person’s
decision to take drugs may no longer be voluntary. It is as if a “switch” goes
off in the user’s brain, and the person becomes addicted. Once a person becomes
addicted, his or her top priority in life becomes obtaining drugs, taking drugs,
getting high, and then getting more drugs. Everything else – family, friends,
study, job, the future – loses importance.
But there are also many
protective or resilience factors, such as good adult role models, supportive
friends, and achievement in school, which can reduce the chance of someone
becoming a drug abuser. Strengthening protective factors can help you and your
friends avoid drug use altogether, even if there are still many risk factors in
your lives.
Once you decide to make
a big change in your life, it is hard to figure out where to start. Here are
some ideas to get rid of:
1.
You could
stop seeing or mingling with the drug users which may tempt you to do it again.
2.
Concentrate more on your studies.
3.
Talk to people you trust about difficult
situations. Tell people who can and will help you quit drinking and using drugs,
let them know what they can do to help.
4.
Google ‘natural dopamine boosters’ and follow
instructions.
Always remember, we have
only one life. Instead being addicted to drugs we must let ourselves be addicted
to life!
