It’s been done for years on TV ads, campaigns, magazines, billboards and newspapers-DO NOT DO DRUGS! It seems that the message is falling on deaf ears or maybe high ears. Here is the shocker-when you tell people not to do something they want to do it even more. People do drugs because they have nothing to look forward to; there is nothing in their lives that they are willing to protect. So they feel they have nothing to lose by doing drugs because their stakes are low anyway.
The only way to preach this decades old message is by:
• Giving people alternatives like sports and hobbies that they can do.
• Encouraging people to dream, to find a goal or passion that they can pursue.
• Being open and candid about issues such as drug abuse and their effects.
• Building centres and implementing development programmes.
• Enriching people with education, culture and heritage.
There are many reasons not to try drugs and those reasons can never be effective if the focus is on drug abuse and how they destroy society. The reasons many people go into drugs, and this may come as a surprise, is that they are bored or they have nothing else to do. It’s no wonder after all these years the fight against drugs is a losing fight and the drug industry keeps booming raking in billions a year, and that is in the African continent alone.
There are many reasons to live like:
• Spending time with family and friends.
• Enjoying the outdoors, travelling and playing sports.
• The chance to try new things like learning how to sew.
• Writing and reading.
• Pursuing a goal, studying further
• Watching movies and theatre plays.
These are things you would never have time for when you high. When you are a drug addict your view of the world gets smaller. You only live for your next fix and how you are going to get it. Life is a beautiful thing and you don’t need to be high to know that.