Experts in the area of mental health and other professionals have declared that the fight against drug abuse in the country should start from the parents.
The experts made this declaration at a lecture with the theme, ‘Effect of Drug Abuse, Who Suffers Most? The Society or The User’, organised by All Youth Reoriented Initiative to mark this year’s edition of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
The Deputy Director, Addiction Therapist, Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Aro-Abeokuta, Dr Solomon Abiodun, while speaking on the topic, ‘Mental Health’, said parents should not follow the old training method of bullying their children.
He advised parents to draw their children nearer and counsel them on the dangers of drug abuse.
Abiodun also warned parents against getting involved in drug abuse.
“We need to warn the parents themselves against drug abuse. What you don’t have, you don’t give. There are some parents themselves that are using drugs.
“So if you are using drug as a parent, what message do you want to give to your children, it won’t be meaningful. So the fight against drug abuse starts from the parents. Let them first know the consequences of their actions. If they know the consequences of their actions, they will stop and they will be able to educate their children on the evils of drug abuse.
“Some parents want to train their children the way their parents trained them.They should note that this generation is quite different. In those days, children were bullied to toe the right path, but if you bully any child now, you send him away.
“Parents need to do everything possible to draw their children closer, so that whatever they are telling them, they will be able to internalise it. Doing otherwise will lead to a terrible error. So we implore the parents to do more of advocacy of taking away of drugs from our society.”
A staff officer, Drug Demand Reduction, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA), Ogun State Command, Sarah Afolabi while speaking on the topic, ‘Dealing with drug abuse’, urged parents to keep watch over their children.
Afolabi noted that parents should not leave their children for school teachers alone. She urged parents to create good and positive environment for their children.
“This will make your children to be your friends, unnecessary pressure from some parents make some children to take to drugs and join bad gangs.
“Parents must be there to support their children. Education begins from home. It is the habit of the home that children carry to school. Parents should therefore pay attention to the attitudes of their children and stop shifting responsibility.
“They should know that the children are vulnerable, so their attitudes and actions should be monitored constantly,” she said.
Chairman of the occasion, Dr Adebayo Oluwatosin, while speaking, maintained that parents have a very serious role to play in ensuring that their children are not dragged into drug abuse.
“My own candid advice to the parents is to keep watch over their kids because when the problem starts, it affects the parent too. The parents should keep constant watch over their kids, talk to them regularly and let them know the disadvantage of even taking alcohol which most of them think is a normal thing in the society.”