Introduction

I welcome all our dear kids and parents to the class today. I am glad to announce that this lessons is no longer for kids participate only. Parents who are eligible can participate as well.

Have you ever fallen sick? If your answer is 'yes', what did you do? We know that when anybody falls sick, the person is expected to consult a medical doctor. Based on the person's complaint, the doctor will prescribe drugs suitable for person for the sickness. However, it is not good to use drugs without the advice of a medical doctor or medical practitioner. In this lesson, we shall learn about drugs and ways they drugs are abuse today.

Meaning of Drugs

A drug is any natural substance other than food or sometimes artificially made chemical which is used to treat or prevent diseases. When we use drug it may cause changes in the way we works or in the way we behave. From the meaning of a drug we can see and say that a drug is different from food. Therefore, we should not take drugs with assistance from a medical personnel.

Uses of Drugs

Drugs serves important purposes in the human health. Let me asked you. Have you ever used drugs before? Why did you use them? How did you feel after taking the drugs?

Lets see the different ways where drugs are useful to human health.

1. Prevention of Diseases and Illnesses: Some drugs are used to prevent the human body from being attacked by diseases. Example of such drug is immunisation of children against sicknesses like polio, measles, meningitis, yellow fever etc.
   Such drugs are called preventive drugs.

1. Treatment of Diseases: When people fall sick or are infected by any form of diseases, they are meant to see a medical doctor. The medical doctor will have to diagnose the disease and recommend appropriate drug that will cure it. Have you ever had a doctor prescribe drugs for you because you were sick? When you used the drugs as prescribed, were you healed?

2. Relief from Pains: There are also some drugs which are used to relieve people of pains. For example, a medical doctor can prescribe certain drugs to a patient if surgery is to be performed on the patient so that the person will not feel much pain during and after the surgery.

Meaning of Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is the illicit use of drug in a way that is not approved or supervised by a medical practitioner. It can also be defined the wrong use of drugs in a way that affects an individual's health and social life.

There are two major types of drugs usually abused by people. They are:

◆ Stimulants or Depressants: These are drugs that temporarily make the mind and body of a person active. This means that when anyones takes such drugs in excess, the activities of the body will work abnormally. Examples of such drugs are:

• Tobacco
• kolanuts
• Amphetamines and
• Cocaine

◆ Hallucinogens: These are drugs that may cause the person who take them to think that they can perceive sights, sounds, and so on, that are not actually present.
Examples of drugs that produce hallucination are:

• Cannabis (Indian hemp)
• Mescaline and
• Phencyclidine.

Forms of Drug Abuse

There are three forms of drug abuse. These are;

1. The use of Illegal drugs: A drug is said to be abused when it is taken in an manner authorised manner. Examples of such drugs are, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc. It is not good to take these drugs because of the implications they will have on our health.

2. Illegal Use of Legal Drugs: This is the use of drugs without prescription by medical personnel. When you take drugs without the advice of a medical expert, it is an abused of such drugs. Have you been taking drugs without prescription by medical experts? It is not a good practice.

3. Over-dosage or Under-dosage of Legal Drugs: Over-dosage of legal drugs simply means when people use more than the quantity of drugs that was prescribed by medical expert, while under-dosage of legal drugs simply means when people use drugs more than the quantity of that was prescribed by a medical expert. For example, when you are asked to take a particular drugs two times a day but you decided to take it three times a day, it is an abuse or an over-dosage of the prescribed drug. On the other hand, if you may decide to take the drugs only once in a day, it is still an abuse of drug. In this case, it is said to be an under-dosage of the prescribed drugs.

Methods of Drug Abuse

There are five different ways through which drugs can be taken into the body.
These ways are;

1. By eating

2. By drinking

3. By inhaling/sniffing

4. By injecting

5. By rubbing

Causes of Drug Abuse

There are many factors that make people to abuse drugs. Some of these factors are as:

1. Self-Medication: This is when people take drugs on their own without prescription by medical expert. This can have adverse effect on the health of the users.

2. Ignorance: This is when people do not have knowledge or information about the effects of misusing drugs on their health. At times, many people use drugs without reading the instructions provided on leaflet inside the drugs. Do you normally read the instructions written on a drug? If you have not been doing that, you are advised to start reading such instructions to avoid drug abuse. The instructions on drugs usually provide information on how to get the best results from using the drugs.

3. Isolation and Loneliness: Many people decide to abuse drugs because they feel lonely. Loneliness can be boring and frustrating. The use of some drugs wrongly is seen as an escape route by some lonely people to forget their problems. However, drug use cannot actually make one free from problem.

4. Criminal Intention: Crime is any illegal or immoral activity in the society. People who want to commit crime always decide to use drugs in order to be bold enough to carry out what they want to do. That is why many armed robbers and delinquents are drug addicts.

5. Uncontrolled and Exaggerated Advertisement: The way some manufacturers advertise their drugs in newspapers, on radio, television, billboards, and so on, cause some people to get involved in the abuse of such drugs. Also some hawkers advertises fake or expired drugs without fear of being caught. Therefore, many unwary users of drugs get hooked to repeated use of certain drugs which may lead to drug abuse.

Homework

1. Define drugs abuse
2. State five uses of drugs
3. List and explain the different forms of drugs abuse
4. What are the major causes od drugs abuse
5. Write down your experience with drugs

Rules

• Your homework post should be at least 300 words.
• Post in steem kids and parents Community and set aside at least 10% beneficiary to @steemkidss.
• You must belong to any of these clubs, club5050 club75 and club100
• Use the hashtags 'steemexclusive, yourcountry, and your club status as part of your hashtag.
• Drop your entry link at the comment section.
  All participants who perform well will be rewarded.

Note The homework is open to everyone

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