One of the major topics around the world today that has received the less attention in our present world today is the abuse of drugs. Substance abuse is the excessive use of psychoactive drugs, such as alcohol, pain medications or illegal drugs. This can majorly lead to physical, social or emotional harm. It's not just about illegal drugs. Using pain meds, alcohol, and other legal substances the wrong way can also harm your health.

We live in a world where nobody seems to care about what's happening in the life of friends, allies, families even our very own partner. Studies have shown that reasons for high rate of substance abuse can be linked to factors such as peer pressure, physical and sexual abuse, early exposure to drugs, stress, and parental guidance among other factors.

Poor Alicia was a friend who when she was alive, all she craved for all her life is that one person who would at least listen to her, give her a listening ear and a little believe in her person. She is the introvertic person who can only express herself with anger and loud voice, friends and family called her a narcissist, they termed her a bully, egocentric without giving her a chance to at least be expressive and make her opinions matter in discuss. She ended up frustrated, lonely, abandoned and resulted to abusing methane, overdosed herself countless of time before she finally resulted to commuting suicide. Her case was a case of ignorance on the part of families and friends who are supposed to let her feel wanted and loved always, this is just a fraction of many cases of why many people abuse drugs
A massive 37% of the population of the United State struggles with illicit drug use and 12% struggle with both alcohol and drug use. Every year, 16 million Americans abuse prescription drugs.

These are either drugs prescribed or obtained illegally from someone else. The World Health Organization maintains that over 300 million people suffer from depression around the world. In the U.S. alone, over 15 million adults per year experience episodes of clinical depression.

Depression is more than just sadness. It has severe consequences on our daily lives, impacting our physical, emotional, and mental health along with our relationships, careers and financial wellbeing.
Sadness is a part of life, a lot of people are painfully grieving in silence with no one to lend an helping hand, people with low mental capability believes getting high on substance will help with that temporal happiness they crave for.

Drug abuse symptoms can mimic symptoms of both depression and mania. For example, a survey of students at teachers' colleges in northern Thailand showed that at some time in their lives 30-40 per cent of the male respondents and 3-6 per cent of the female respondents had used cannabis, and that 18-20 per cent of the males and 12-27 per cent of the females had sniffed volatile solvents. The same survey showed that 5-10 per cent of both the males and females had used stimulants and nearly 2 per cent had used heroin.
Africa has been one of the major disadvantage continent in the ignorant negligence on the issue of drug abuse in our today's world, the World Health Organization has warned that many young Africans are turning to substance abuse.

The UN predicts that by 2030 the number of drug users in Africa will have increased substantially. The following statistics show the imminent danger and the gun power we are intentionally sitting on, as of 2022 alone, opioid (tramadol) consumption is 1.4℅ in west Africa and 1.9% in West Africa, Cannabis consumption is 6 32% in Africa and 9.27% in West Africa, Cocaine usage is estimated at 0.27% in Africa and 0.15% in West Africa, Amphetamines consumption is estimated at 0.41% in Africa and 0.36% in West Africa. The government has forgotten us. We are left homeless, sick at home, or sick in the streets, so we have no choice but to support each other," Yassir Abdallah, a recovering addict in Malindi, told DW.

The UN estimates that by 2030, the number of drug users in Africa will have increased by 40%. Drug and substance consumption is a serious endemic ravaging our world that requires massive and serious attention. Remember when President Donald Trump proclaimed that the opioid problem was now a national emergency, this is an indicator that we need to intensify our effort in eradicating or reducing to the barest minimum the ignorant abuse of substsnce by the populace.

To curb the rising abuse of substance, we need to first and foremost accept that we have a big problem on our hands, we need to encourage those around us with kind words because there is power in our spoken words, it has the ability to make or break us, kind words goes a long way in soothing our mind, hurtful words destroys our self esteem.

The words we use can inflect the emotions we are feeling and represent how we think about other people or situations. Support someone today, show love to that person going through depression, encourage that person close to you abusing substances. Together we can make our world safe from drugs abuse again and make it save for the upcoming generation to enjoy a drug free world.

Oyeniyi Abiodun Samson