How To Know If You Are Losing Your Beloved Son Or Daughter

The recent deaths of some young men to issues relating to drugs have been described as a strong warnings to youth to desist from the act.

To most youths, drugs help in reducing stress, taking away pains and making them forget their sorrows.

Parents must be watchful of their children, especially when they start behaving in a queer manner.

A number of other risk and protective factors for drug use across community, school, family, and peer-individual domains have been identified.

For example, within the community domain, risk factors for youth drug use include community norms favorable to drug use and community disorganization.

Low attachment to school and academic failure are risk factors in the school domain predictive of substance use and misuse.

Youth exposed to family risk factors such as poor family management, favorable parental attitudes towards drugs, and high family conflict are more likely to use drugs.

Interactions with drug-using peers reinforce favorable attitudes towards drugs and increase access to drugs, and are associated with substance use initiation and greater levels of use.

Individual characteristics such as rebelliousness and sensation seeking are also related to drug use.

Drugs have done more harm to youths than good.

Just recently, the death of three young men from rich homes to drug related ailment went viral.

The first to go was Tagbo Umeike, the next was DJ Olu (son of Dapo Abiodun of Heyden Energy) and later one Chimezie.

The trio were said to be friends and crew members of a popular hip-hop artiste.Davido.

The Medical Examiner’s Office autopsy revealed that alcohol was a substantial factor in the death of 35-year-old ” Tagbo, who died on the eve  his birthday.

The result also showed that he had alcohol and drugs in his system capable of easing a person into the early stages of hypothermia and eventual death.

The toxicology tests detected alcohol (Bacardi 151, 75.5% Alcohol) and topiramate, a medication for epilepsy and/or migraines in a man’s system, in Tagbo Umeike.’

Tagbo’s blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) was at 0.112, higher than the 0.08 legal limit for normal human being state, the coroner’s office stated.

While his family claims that Tagbo “didn’t have a prescription for any type of topiramate medication”, the coroner’s office stated that the amount of drug in Tagbos’ system was in the “therapeutic range.”

A statement by the coroner’s office said, “Alcohol and topiramate are synergistic. When combined, the effect of either or both drugs is enhanced.”

Some commentators believe that the death of the trio was self-inflicted.

According to them, the deceased were too enmeshed in drugs such that they sleep and wake with all sorts of drugs be it meth, codeine, refnol etc.

They accused parents of being ignorant of how sophisticated “our youths have metamorphosed  in creating a facade that we find difficult to break into.”

In their words: “The rich kids with our celebrities, especially musicians go to the club, where they drink vodka, smoke shisha, take all sorts of cocktail, smoke SK, top it up with codeine, meth and refnol and they’ll take three to four hookers for their sexual fantasies and you expect such guy to see the next day, how?

“We need to pay attention to our youths especially when an active guy suddenly starts behaving slow which we mistake for being quiet.

“We also need to start investigating what our young girls put in their water bottles because you’ll think they are just carrying water not knowing they’ve got all sorts of drugs mixed into the water.

Also watch out for blue stained tongues anything blue on their tongues is a red flag,” they said.

According to them, youths should not see drugs as cool, and that they should not forget that illicit drugs is a time bomb that could explode at anytime.

They added that the government and the society must step up efforts to put a stop to the reckless lifestyle of the youth to reduce untimely death in the country.