Jerry wrote on Jan 1^st, 2007, 9:45am:


I have also thought of the idea that the problem may have gone back to the beginning of time. (May be not the dinosaur age. ) While I was doing the topic, I came across some information that said that drug abuse happen right when mankind was first created. It went on saying that drug abuse on those days take on different forms, like alcohol and opium, unlike the ones that are more known these days like ice, heroin, ecstasy and coke. I guess no matter which generation we are in, drug abuse exist in different forms. I wonder how drug abuse would be like in the future when technology is better. May be drugs will come in the form of micro chips?

P.S. Thanks for replying back.  

Jerry wrote on Jan 7^th, 2007, 2:30pm:


Most people grow according to their environments. Children or youth learn things from their everyday situations. It is very common that a person abuses drugs because he grows up in the midst of people who leads him to the path he chose (peer-pressure). Perhaps the abuser has learnt and alarmed about the dangers of substance abuse and so the warning bell has rung in him. However he may probably find that the pressure is greater than his conscience and he cant stand the pressure no more. Therefore he thought of giving it a try. From that we can see that peer pressures or environmental pressures play a very huge role in causing youth to abuse drugs. Nowadays we can see that to change a drug abuser, people usually "remove" him from his past environment and put him under a new and supposedly healthy lifestyle. This is what we see in most rehabilitation centres. However, is this the best and the most effective way to get rid of the addictions? What if the abuser's peers are extremely important for him? What if his previous so-called "unhealthy" environment has left a huge mark in his life and become a place where he belongs? What if the cause of him getting into drugs abuse is because his family are all drugs abusers? Does he have to really leave his family? Some people are strong enough not to fall into the pressures, but if that person has fallen before, what's the likelihood of him to fall again for the second time no matter how strong he is?

Thanks a lot before for giving a respond.  

You make very valid points and we do agree in concept.  However, let's focus on prevention here and not leaving ones education up to the street, environment, peers......If the family unit is not there, who then has the responsibility of educating these youths?  Or is anyone responsible?  Is it every man/person/youth from themselves?

Quote:


I find it difficult to understand why you feel that rehabilitation is punishment regardless of whose perspective it is and even if it is something that is ordered by a court of law...If we are to consider that a person who is addicted to drugs or other substances has a medical problem, then in order to treat same, a medical intervention is necessary...right?  And we call that rehabilitation....do you agree?  

hi... i am new here and i have a question. How can we get teens to stay away from drugs and how can the society help them recover from drug abuse?

Jerry wrote on Jan 20^th, 2007, 12:43pm:


Besides giving them support, what other ways can we help them?

[quote author=Jerry link=1151576970/30#41 date=1169396806][quote author=CL063 link=1151576970/30#40 date=1169359629]Jerry wrote on Jan 20^th, 2007, 12:43pm:


I am currently doing a project and i was wondering in what ways can we help them..

louisa wrote on Jan 9^th, 2007, 1:42pm:


most countries (if not all) state in their legislations that the government provides support for the welfare of the citizens (to some extent). therefore, i think it is the government's responsibility, to a certain extent. however, that can very easily lead to addicts simply blaming the government for their addictions and most happily stay being addicts. an each-to-their-own approach cures this legislation-abuse. however, we're then back to square one since this approach doesn't help them at all. so my guess is that it doesn't help at all to ask about responsibilities. i think it's more helpful to ask about the causes, which isn't much of a mystery anymore these days. it is still a case-to-case thing, so i think prevention depends on the local environment. rehabilitation and recovery, however, is probably far way too technical and medical beyond my expertise for me to comment.