By Adedotun Aderoboye

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Children are not only blessings from God, they are also the future of our nation and world. In them, we not only see ourselves, we also see great men and women who will take over from us someday and shape human history in various ways.
As adults, it is our duty to not only protect them from being harmed by someone and something but also to protect them from themselves. Whether it is an outsider who is about to lead them astray or they are the ones doing the leading, it is our duty to step in and keep them on the right path.
Right now, something tragic is happening to children in our society. This thing is like a virus spreading from one child to another quietly, while we all go about our daily activities. It is something we need to address right now or it could be our next pandemic.
Smoking and drinking of harmful substances among children is growing at an alarming rate. Just like a wildfire, its blaze is getting out of hands. This virus is spreading across our society, as many children are seen frequently drinking and smoking harmful substances with the aim of “getting high,” and enjoying the freedom they think such substances give them.
Recently, the social media was on aglow when the video of a very young boy who was sneaking into an uncompleted building to smoke an illicit substance he simply called “Oja” surfaced online. We may pretend to be shocked by what we saw, but we also know he was definitely not the first child to get involved in that act.
There was also another video where five school girls were seen smoking shisha. The way they conducted themselves throughout the video clearly showed they were used to taking the substance and were definitely enjoying the act. The uproar that greeted the video was good but it should never end there.
What we saw in those two videos were not scenes from some Nollywood movies. They were real life actions happening around us. Children are spending their time and resources to locate, buy and take these harmful substances right under our noses.
Arizona, Blaze, Brown sugar, Colorado, Charlie, Choko, Coke, Grass, Green leaf, Horse, Joint, Kush, Mary and Joan, Market, Pot, Powder, Shisha, Skunk, Snow, Thailand white and Yoyo are some of the names given to these harmful substances which are consuming children who consume them.
The irony is that many of these kids do not even know the implications of drinking or smoking these substances. They think it gives them freedom and inspiration to achieve great things when they actually put them in chains and mess with their ability to think like normal people do.
A young illicit drug addict (name withheld) recently revealed how he became someone who loves drinking and smoking so much. He also talked about how he had tried to abandon the lifestyle but he was unsuccessful because he was already addicted to it.
According to him, his mother had left him with his father few years ago. His father worked in another town and only came home once in a while. He met a group of olders boys who became the family he so much wanted. He would go to different places with them. The boys drank and smoked various substances in his presence but they never allowed him to take any of them. He said “they protected me like a baby”.
One day, he saw a cigarette on the floor at his friends’ house and quickly hid it in his pocket. When he got to his father’s apartment (where he was always alone), he lit the cigarette and devoured it. He said he wanted to talk to someone about it but he could not. Mummy was on her own and daddy was working very hard to get money. So, he joined his “big brothers” in their world and the rest is history.
Also, there was a young boy (name withheld) who attended a public secondary school. He came from a family where smoking was not really a big deal. His parents endorsed it and all his older siblings smoked and drank one substance or the other. At school, he had many friends. They were young boys like him but he was already out of their league.
He started discussing the beauty of drinking and smoking with them and encouraged them to join him in his universe. Their teachers did not know what those kids were up to. They were probably too busy to realize that he had already begun the process of dragging his classmates and friends into the darkness of drug abuse and addiction.
Soon, many of his friends and fellow students started smoking and drinking those things with him. They would sneak out of their classrooms and the school to buy the substances from dealers he already knew. They would then drink and smoke them in isolated places within the school before they left for their different homes.
Are parents really paying proper attention to their children’s activities at home and in their schools? Are teachers really paying enough attention to that aspect of their job where they monitor the students? Why is everyone pretending like these kids are invisible when drinking or smoking these things in the streets?
According to a school counselor who has spent over twenty years in the profession, Mrs. Adeyanju Elizabeth, drug abuse and addiction among children has become prevalent in our society because we have allowed them to grow.
She said “Lack of parental care, students having freedom to do as they like, negative peer group influence, exposure to watching people taking these harmful drugs on television and social media, loneliness and the desire to feel on top of the world are some of the causes of what we are seeing today”.
She recommended that “counseling should be encouraged in schools, seminars should be organized frequently for students, parents need to pay more attention to their children, government should make sure these substances are not available in our society and also government should ensure that drug offenders are punished”.
A parent and secondary school teacher, Mr. Adegoke Oseyemi believed that ending drug abuse among children in our society can only be achieved when all stakeholders come together to get it done.
He said “Challenges, peer group influence, imitation and the urge for freedom are some of the causes of drug abuse among children. Some children even learn to take these hard drugs from their parents. This is because some parents send their children to buy these substances for them and unintentionally lure them into becoming just like them”.
He advised parents, school authorities, the government, religious bodies and other units within our society to rise up to the challenge of saving innocent kids from self-destruction by taking the right steps right now.
A medical doctor at the Ondo State Primary Healthcare Board, Dr. Femi Abiona said “The effects of drug abuse are more severe in children than in adults because they (children) are still growing and the effects follow them for a long time. Their system cannot metabolize some of these drugs like adults would and the effects could be physical, mental or social. The effects could be immediate or happen later in life”.
According to Dr. Abiona, some of the effects of drug abuse on children include dizziness, depression, anxiety, tremors, restlessness, irritation, difficulty in breathing, infections (for those who share drugs through unsterilized needles), high blood pressure, lack of concentration, damaged organs, Paranoia, psychosis and death.
He advised that children should be protected by the adults in their lives from taking these harmful substances, to avoid having to face any of these diseases and problems in the short term or later in life.
So, the business of preserving the future of this country and planet is something we must all invest in right now. By ending drug abuse among children in our society, we are simply making sure the future is in safe hands.
For everyone of us who have these kids around us, we owe it to them, ourselves and our society to always keep them away from taking harmful substances that can ruin their lives and our society. We save the future if we can end drug abuse among children now.