In the Trap of Drugs and Endless “Joy”

Health and disease. Steadfastness and temptation. Sports and drugs. This is our life. This is everlasting doubt. A man has to make a choice every minute and it’s important to avoid mistakes.
Today’s narcotic “pleasure” can turn into a dreadful problem tomorrow, and endless happiness becomes great trouble. Sometimes temptation can become stronger than common sense, and a visit in Moscow – a real trap.

Yes, 21st century for students is here with the spread tough competition, globalization, the priority of West European culture and industry of mass entertainment. Thousands of examples of temptation and ways to relax catch the attention of young people. But what happens if these temptations become nightmares and dependence on relaxation changes into permanent idea? Today’s “high” may turn into a big threat tomorrow, immeasurable happiness – into great trouble, and horrible illness. Unfortunately, this is not a product of my imagination; the epidemic has a real name – drug addiction.

Following the “Happiness”
A lot of my contemporaries, hunting for “happiness” and dreams, struggle against reality (of course, it is easier to live in an imaginary world) under the pressure of misunderstanding, difficulties and annoyance in their private lives, or what is even worse, because of the “fashion” and the desire to be the same as others, fall into a real trap, and it is not so easy as it seems to move out of it.
Today, students all over the world more often become hostages of the chaos surrounding them. Some of them become dependent on drugs because of their “idleness”, orienting to the principle of “forbidden fruit is sweet”. Students of the USA in most cases become drug addicts during their exams, when they feel a lack of time or a lack of imagination. They “have to” use stimulants and begin to lose confidence in their own abilities to study without them. And stimulants, as you all should understand, are not harmless to health. Also it is very hard to struggle against temptation when a boyfriend or a girlfriend uses drugs when you communicate with them every day, so sooner or later you fall into dependence. It is interesting that drugs are used more often on journalistic, philosophic and economic faculties, where students need a good imagination, concentrated attention and analytical abilities.

Discussing statistics it is important to say that in Russia the number of “tempted” is from 4 to 6 million or 4 % of the total population of the country (and only 500 thousand of them are officially recorded), and the most disgusting thing is that two thirds of them are young people under 30. And it is important to say that in world practice we talk about an epidemic if at least 1 % of the population uses drugs. And in Russia the number of drug addicts is somewhat higher. So we face a real threat to the future of our generation.

Dark Reality
These are the figures. Terrible figures. And more terrible still is the thing which is hidden behind them. Relatives who are ready to kill the family for a dose of white powder. A real nightmare happened in the settlement of Obuhovo of the Noginsky district not far from Moscow. A 28-year-old drug addict in a minute of weakness cruelly killed the whole family, including his younger brother. Then he repented that he did it, but it was too late. People who are willing to steal for a cherished portion. Children, who are spending their parent’s money in expensive clubs and during evening parties. They don’t want to say “no” to the euphoria of pleasure, they don’t realize that they are asking for trouble. Sportsmen who risk their lives for an opportunity to make everlasting their “unforgettable” sensation on the difficult route or while climbing mountains. Dangerous is a person who has lost their whole moral and ethical values, who can sell or betray their best friend in order to get money and a promised dose. Awful is a student who sells the forbidden fruit and makes dependent his colleagues. And there are many other examples which have the power to shock us!

Prolonged Illness
Narcotism is an illness, a real plague, which has come to Russia as mass disease in the 20th century and has unbelievable scope. This thing must be understood and understood immediately. Affected state of body and soul is short term deliverance from problems. That’s why Russians say: when you treat and cure something, you may cripple something else. Who can guarantee that you can escape the “treatment” with using drugs tomorrow or the day after?
But it is only half of the trouble. To start using drugs is always easier than to stop it…
Have you ever looked into the eyes, into the soul (or what was left instead of it) of a drug addict? A man can’t feel, distinguish good and bad, can’t fall in love or simply rejoice over something. Now he doesn’t live, it is more correct to say that he only exists. Tempted with “happiness” he is full of desire to repeat a “flight” of the soul. He doesn’t notice anything else on his way, and what is the most unpleasant, he has no purpose in his life, except getting drugs.
Besides, even if a user increases the dose, he can’t recapture the first sensation of “happiness” (from his first drug taking). And the reason lies not in the amount of drugs an addict uses; it hides in the ability of the human organism to get used to every substance from inoffensive “light” drugs to cruel heroin. So drug addicts find themselves in a vicious circle, there is no exit for them. They do their best to achieve the “first” feeling, but it is physically impossible. In this case the main task for a dependent person becomes to overestimate his or her vital living position, attitude to his or her life. A man should stop living in an unreal world and understand that he must act right now. And under modern conditions of strong competition and a struggle for a better place “under the sun” in the existing hierarchy, it is not simple to immediately change your point of view.
Deliberate “No”
You can hang up thousands of posters against drug addiction on the walls of your house, institute, and buildings, you can talk for hours with your doctor about the problem, you can endlessly seek the reasons for drug addiction, but all these attempts will be useless as long as a man is an enemy of himself and doesn’t want to say a firm “no” to drugs. Be honest, it is always easier to complain of a “weakness” in one’s character, bad training and background, lack of will and “having nothing to do” or “no other opportunity to relax”. Absurd! Every man makes a choice himself. A fiasco in life, difficulties in studies or a quarrel with one’s parents are not doomsday, but a situation that can be changed and improved in the future.
There are many methods to utilize without Russian glue “Moment” or ill-fated syringes. You can enjoy music, dancing, painting, go to the stadium with friends and make different trips or visit museums, cinemas, theatres. It’s quite another matter that a person should make a lot of effort in these activities: it is necessary to rehearse a lot for playing a musical instrument well, to have good imagination and talent for creating pieces of arts, to be coached and to keep fit if you want to dance. And if you want to become a drug addict you can do nothing and need nothing except money. That’s the point!

A Desire Is Really Important
And, eventually, it is vital for a user to realize in time that drug addiction is a decease, and a dependence which must be cured. It is possible to fight and gain a victory: www.narkohelp.ru. Everything depends on your own desire and readiness to help those who are happiness-tempted and dependent on drugs and who fall into this trap. And our Academy is a wonderful example of the willingnessess and preparedness to resist miseries, cooperating in the sphere of drug addiction with the International Committee against Terrorism, Drug Addiction and Ecological Offences. So try to use this information effectively. Remember, everyone has a chance!