Youth and Drug abuse-an understanding

Sometimes one is reading a newsppaper, a journal or a magazine and something particularly catches one's attention. More than the regular 'daily dose of mere news'...

This is what particularly caught mine. In the Khaleej Times, issue dated 2nd May 09Titled-'Disturbed childhood cause of drug abuse among Saudi youth', byHabib Shaikh,sent in from Jeddah, it is the first real expose of its kind.

Where a closed society is beginning to reveal whats really happening inside.

I quote-"A study of drug addicts in Saudi Arabia has shown that good education and married life dissuade young men and women from turning to drugs.Estranged relations between parents and an unhappy childhood are some of the major causes of pushing children to drug addiction.As many as 46% of the respondents said that their unhappy childhood had played a role in turning them towards drugs.

40% said that they had suffered humiliation and abuse during childhood. 37% were beaten, 19.9% grew up seeing hostile relations between parents and siblings, while 14.9% had seen their parents seperated.The study also revealed that 76% thought of ending their lives while 54% had actually tried to commit suicide.

This study has covered people receiving de-addiction treatment at the Al Amal Rehabilitation centre, and has concluded that about 74% of the country's drug addicts had experimented with drugs before they were 15.

According to a report presentedto the Shoura Council last year, around 15,000 youngSaudi men and women abuse drugs..

Makes me wonder...Extremely revealing statistics these..Could happen anywhere, in any part of the world.

All we need to do as responsible parents/adults/mentors -Try and eliinate/minimize these circumstances, if we really,really want a drug free society