A Research Study On the affects of Illegal drugs on the Academic, Personal and Social Lives of Students/Young Adults

The affects of Illegal drugs on the Academic, Personal and Social Lives of Students/Young Adults.

Introduction:

We’ll start it up by first looking at what illegal Drugs are and how different people have defined them scientifically and non-scientifically, later we’ll try to come up with our own definition that comes out of our own understanding and experience, our apologies to be accepted for we’ll be covering only two types of drugs; mainly Cannabis (in casual language, known as Chars and it has many more names), and Alcohol.

Why we have chosen CANNABIS and ALCOHOL only? because we have personally seen many people using them and people whom we have close ties with, now with due respect and apologies to our seniors and teachers we are mentioning the fact that we ourselves have experienced the adverse affects of these drugs, and because we have a clear understanding and personal experiences of what these drugs are capable of, we think we can better explain their adverse affects. That’s the reason behind selecting; Cannabis and Alcohol as our theme of research.

Our purpose of selecting and working on this topic is to bring the hidden problems CANNABIS AND ALCOHOL comes along with, to bring some hidden facts into attention of our fellow students, the coming generations and other people outside our fellowships either at the academic level or in general, because we've realized and have seen the undesirable dangerous affects these drugs brings in different area of its user’s life, some areas that are already well known, just to name them: educational area, inside the families and Social life, but keeping aside the academics, family and social life, there’s a much bigger and ignored portion, the ugly truth the biggest fact of all that we want to emphasize on and spread awareness of is that these drugs destroy the natural God gifted rhythm and flow of life, Yes these drugs snatches from you your peace of mind, your capability to think normally and act as you were designed to, and this happens because these drugs slowly and gradually cause you psychological illnesses and there are many who later in their lives suffer and lose their sanity, end up in mental health hospitals.

scientifically these drugs interfere with the neurotransmitters in the brain namely: Serotonin and dopamine, people with a background in the subject biology can have better understanding of this phenomena, but to put it in easy and simple words for everybody, dopamine and serotonin are said to be neurotransmitters that are present in the frontal lobe of the brain and their work in simplest words is to maintain sanity (the opposite of sane is insanity, in psychiatric terms Psychosis and in everyday language we call it mental illness) Now Cannabis is Said to affect the serotonin and dopamine levels both at the same time, and we believe that each puff of Cannabis takes a person one step away from his/her original mental and physical shape gifted by God, Same case goes with the Alcohol, which is widely considered to be an Anti depressant, makes its user feel high on life, but that’s only for a short span of time, it is actually a depressant and if taken on regular basis, affects the chemical activity in the brain, likewise CANNABIS and as far as we've seen through our own eyes, in our friends lives and in our own personal lives, Both of these drugs leaves a person astray. It’s a sad fact that an unknown number of people in the whole wide world use cannabis and Alcohol, and on this Globe when we talk only about our own city and our small group of university fellows, we see that 65 percent of every 100 students (Rough Idea) or adults are into using CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. We suggest what has already been suggested “precaution is better than cure”.

Later In this study we’ll be offering some solutions that have proven to be helpful, again in our experience, and we’ll be explaining the Long and Short Term Affects these Drugs have on its user and his/her ACADEMIC, PERSONAL and SOCIAL life.

Objectives:

· Our first Objective of this study is to notify how the use of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL can become dangerous for its user’s personal, social life and Academic Career.

· Our second objective is actually our main objective, because it sums up our reason of this research study. It is to explain how CANNABIS and ALCOHOL interferes in the User’s brain Activity and how the use of these drugs can cause psychological disorders.

· Our third objective is to provide solutions and helpful techniques to help quit or in resistance to CANNABIS and ALCOHOL and help students/adults to get back to normalcy.

· Our Fourth Objective is a little deeper as it provides support to the Long Term users who feel to be affected mentally and feel ashamed of seeking mental support. We’ll be providing some natural remedies and advises that would help in literal means to cope in a perfect way to deal with the problem.

Methodology:

Our Methodology is going to be very simple; it’ll be a set of questions (in sociological terms a Quantitative, Questionnaire as tool of data collection) that we’ll have on papers in which the identity of the data providers will be kept hidden, and will be used just for our more detailed findings and to add more experiences to our study, this methodology will help us get information easily and will make the students feel safe about their prestige.

Area of Study:

Our area of study, to be precise, is going to be the students living in the hostels. And to go further we’ll be looking for information outside the university, in our own contacts in Peshawar city.

Limitations:

The Study is limited to two drugs mainly CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. We are not going to cover all the illegal drugs in our study because we see these two drugs widely used both in our living areas, in communities and especially in hostels.

Time Duration:

The time duration for this study provided by the officials was 2 months. But in other sense this study in our brains and lives got started long ago.

Significance of the Study:

This Study holds a great deal of significance as it is written in a form of counseling for those who have been affected and for those who are unaware about the side effects these drugs carry along with them. So At first it’ll be a stop point for many who’ll get to read it, and secondly it’ll be a jump point for those who have been trapped in the artificial aura of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL.

Literature Review

History of Drug Abuse:

Surprisingly Drug Abuse is almost as old as human civilization and it dates back to the times when people actually found ways of cultivating food, the very early eras, and to add more to our surprise not even those times were free of worries and People had to find ways to get rid of everyday stresses and problems, like for example the water wasn’t drinkable but thirst use to make them drink and so they use to get sick and die, it’s at the same funny and tragerdic as well for our generation to know that consider it like in 50^th century people are going to find it amusing that in 21^st century people use to die of Aids and cancer, well anyways while cultivating wheat people found a new thing which is called “beer” in today’s world. What they found in this liquid was that it crystallized water, now that was a miracle for them but the truth is “beer” had “Alcohol” in it which was actually cleaning the water, and that’s where the Story of Drugs begins....

Now they were getting clean water but they realized that this new liquid (Beer) wasn't nice, because they were getting addicted to it and it use to make them feel high all the time. And so as a result the world got stuck in alcohol addiction, and they saw that even after drinking the so called clean water people were dying more quickly, now this turned out to be another problem.

Now while one part of the world was stuck with Alcohol addiction the other part of the world (Indians, Egyptians and more) were happy with flowers, oceans, and rivers of clean water, using plants and their leafs first as clothes later as remedies, for little wounds, and small cuts over their bodies, and headaches and one day they found a cure for a crying baby at night, and this would make you laugh out loud because it was the flower of CANNABIS what they use to do was when at night their babies their young ones use to wake up and cry, they used those flowers of cannabis to make their babies feel good and go back to sleep again.

So This is how these Two Drugs were found and we can guess and we can find information in the world history as well about how these and other drugs took rise in the civilizations but to be precise we’ll now come back to our topic and explain “WHY CANNABIS IS MORE FREQUENTLY USED IN THE SOCIETY WE LIVE IN KPK” Ease of access is the answer, in Peshawar back in 2000 and early years, Alcohol use to be available easily but later its sale was stopped in KPK. Despite the fact that both of the drugs are still available but carrying Cannabis through to your place from the buyer is easier than Carrying a Bottle of Alcohol. That’s one of the reason students/adults are more into smoking Marijuana/Cannabis/Hashish/Chars rather than Alcohol. Whereas In Punjab and Sindh Side we get to see that people use more of ALCOHOL rather than CANNABIS and the same is the reason; because in Punjab and Sindh side people with permit are allowed to buy and carry ALCOHOL.

Now that we know where these drugs came from and where these drugs are easily found we have come to a question that Why are people got into Using CANNABIS and ALCOHOL, what can be thought to be the reasons behind it? And the answer includes a lot of reasons that we may know, or we may not, because everybody has his/her own personal reasons and as its use and its users both are considered and viewed as bad in society, so keeping this fact in mind, it can be concluded that many reasons are still unknown but for now to make it simple and understandable to some extent we’re going to explain with the help of

THREE MAIN STARTING POINTS OF DRUG ABUSE IN A PERSON’S LIFE:

· Peer Pressure.

· Emotional distress. (Weak Personality)

· Adventurous Personality.

Now that we have three factors, we are now going to dig into the types of Drugs and as we mentioned earlier the reasons in the introduction Section, with due apologies that we’ll be covering only two

TYPES OF DRUGS WHICH ARE:

· Cannabis (Hashish/Chars)

· Alcohol.

We've created pictures to better explain the adverse short and long term effects these drugs have on its user, and to take as less time of the reader as we can and at the same get our point across. We’ll first discuss the REASONS/FACTORS behind drug abuse and later we’ll explain in detail our objectives

The picture explain the phenomena biologically, and having said that if biologically a person is weak, He/she would be most probably be weak at all other aspects, to name them, social, family life and other Academics, Because Biological changes that are not as they are suppose to be can only be harmful, and cannot benefit in any long term way, we are not saying here that these drugs doesn't offer temporary relief, but what we are trying to tell here is that these drugs after usage of specific time frame turns into addiction and interfere with the chemical activity in the brain, Secondly these drugs interfere with almost every part of the human body and creates disturbances in the natural system.

After explaining a little bit about these drugs we’ll slowly take the reader into explaining how a new user can avoid certain harmful drugs specially CANNABIS and ALCOHOL. That also comes as part of our objectives of this study. Now let’s take a look at the factors and reasons behind the beginnings of drug abuse in a person’s life, we’re now going to look at the factors and we want the reader to sit back relax and try to identify what causes him/her into using these drugs, so that you can figure out the reasons and then helping yourself into getting out of the addiction.

(a) Peer Pressure:

In other words influence of your friends, on your choices, we want you to know that it’s always a choice; you can always say No to drugs. And stay safe. Because we’ve seen that in most cases what happens is, if 9 out of 10 friends in a group are into taking drugs the one who is left is also going to fall into it, one reason your friends and surroundings have a great impact on your personality.

(b) Emotional Distress and Weak Personalities):

Emotional problems are everybody’s issue its not that someone special faces it more severely and others face it less. It’s the same case for everyone, but here in our study it’s the kind of stress that young adults get stuck into and because of lesser Maturity and understanding, these young fellows start seeking relief in drugs like CANNABIS and ALCOHOL, in the early stage it does works as a relief from the stress for them, but later without their realization it becomes part of their habit and nature which they cannot break and it all turns out be an Addiction problem, which has bad consequences.

(c) Easy Access And Adventurous personalities:

This turned out to be one more important factor when we sat down and thought about it, because drugs like CANNABIS is as easily available as you could imagine, in every street you find a person who smokes weed, this takes your into another ease, because you can easily get it, if not from the sellers, then in your friends circle, talking about friends of friends and its long thread, there’s always somebody inside it who is into using CANNABIS or ALCHOHOL, now the story with ALCOHOL is a bit different from CANNABIS, when it comes to availability, this sedative liquid is normally used in people who are adventurous in nature and like to party a lot, students/young adults who belong to rich families, who are also known as spoiled brats, most of these young bloods usually have no fear right or wrong doing, they are also said to be carefree, so what they tend to do in parties they look for booze and it makes them feel higher for a few hours, and if they are into doing it on regular basis it becomes a part of their lives, now without their own information about what’s happening inside their bodies and minds, they keep on getting affected and there comes a point when drinking ALCOHOL becomes a necessity rather than just a choice. It turns into an addiction.

The above mentioned are some of the reasons behind drug addiction and abuse, now we’ll take one step ahead and look at what these drugs are made of, what are their biological properties in order to understand what chemicals they contain that interacts with the chemicals and neurotransmitters naturally present in our bodies. Alight so let’s just take a look at what explanations we have on the World Wide Web about CANNABIS and ALCOHOL.

CANNABIS and Mental Health:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

There is growing evidence that people with serious mental illness, including depression and psychosis, are more likely to use cannabis or have used it for long periods of time in the past. Regular use of the drug has appeared to double the risk of developing a psychotic episode or long-term schizophrenia. However, does cannabis cause depression and schizophrenia or do people with these disorders use it as a medication?

Over the past few years, research has strongly suggested that there is a clear link between early cannabis use and later mental health problems in those with a genetic vulnerability - and that there is a particular issue with the use of cannabis by adolescents.

Depression

A study following 1600 Australian school-children, aged 14 to 15 for seven years, found that while children who use cannabis regularly have a significantly higher risk of depression, the opposite was not the case - children who already suffered from depression were not more likely than anyone else to use cannabis. However, adolescents who used cannabis daily were five times more likely to develop depression and anxiety in later life.

Psychoses - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

There is now sufficient evidence to show that those who use cannabis particularly at a younger age, such as around the age of 15, have a higher than average risk of developing a psychotic illness, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

These studies also show that the risk is dose-related. In other words, the more cannabis someone used, the more likely they were to develop a psychotic illness. Furthermore, a study in Australia recently showed that those who used cannabis could develop the illness about 2.70 years earlier than those who did not.

Why should teenagers be particularly vulnerable to the use of cannabis? It is thought that this has something to do with brain development. The brain is still developing in the teenage years – up to the age of around 20, in fact. A massive process of ‘neural pruning’ is going on. This is rather like streamlining a tangled jumble of circuits so they can work more effectively. Any experience, or substance, that affects this process has the potential to produce long-term psychological effects.

It is also known that not everyone who uses cannabis, even at a young age, develops a psychotic illness. The available research shows that those who have a family history of a psychotic illness, or those who have certain characteristics such as schizotypal personality, or possibly have certain types of genes, may increase the risk of developing a psychotic illness following the regular use of strong cannabis.

ALCOHOL and Mental Health:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

Alcohol alters your brain chemistry. Our brains rely on a delicate balance of chemicals and processes. Alcohol is a depressant, which means it can disrupt that balance, affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions – and sometimes our long-term mental health. This is partly down to ‘neurotransmitters’, chemicals that help to transmit signals from one nerve (or neuron) in the brain to another. The relaxed feeling you can get when you have that first drink is due to the chemical changes alcohol has caused in your brain. For many of us, a drink can help us feel more confident and less anxious. That’s because it’s starting to depress the part of the brain we associate with inhibition. But, as you drink more, more of the brain starts to be affected. It doesn’t matter what mood you’re in to start with, when high levels of alcohol are involved, instead of pleasurable effects increasing, and it’s possible that a negative emotional response will take over. You could become angry, aggressive, anxious or depressed.

Alcohol can actually increase anxiety and stress rather than reduce it unfortunately reaching for a drink won’t always have the effect you’re after.

While a glass of wine after a hard day might help you relax, in the long run it can contribute to feelings of depression and anxiety and make stress harder to deal with. This is because regular, heavy drinking interferes with neurotransmitters in our brains that are needed for good mental health. When we drink, we narrow our perception of a situation and don’t always respond to all the cues around us. If we're prone to anxiety and notice something that could be interpreted as threatening in the environment, we'll hone in on that and miss the other less threatening or neutral information. For example, we might focus on our partner talking to someone we’re jealous of, rather than notice all the other people they've been chatting to that evening.. Alcohol depression = a vicious cycle If you drink heavily and regularly you’re likely to develop some symptoms of depression. It’s that good old brain chemistry at work again. Regular drinking lowers the levels of serotonin in your brain – a chemical that helps to regulate your mood. In Britain, people who experience anxiety or depression are twice as likely to be heavy or problem drinkers. For some people, the anxiety or depression came first and they've reached for alcohol to try to relieve it. For others, drinking came first, so it may be a root cause of their anxieties. Drinking heavily can also affect your relationships with your partner, family and friends. It can impact on your performance at work. These issues can also contribute to depression. If you use drink to try and improve your mood or mask your depression, you may be starting a vicious cycle…Warning signs that alcohol is affecting your mood include:

·         Disturbed sleep
·         Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
·         Low mood
·         Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.

Now that we have a clearer picture of how these drugs can affect us we’ll look at some explanatory pictures that will give us an overview of the details we have mentioned and discussed above. Look at each picture in detail; we have tried to make the most simplest and easy to understand diagrams like pictures which give details about each particular section that gets affected in our bodies. Let’s start with the diagram of CANNABIS and then we’ll take a look at the Picture presentation of the Affects of ALCOHOL.

Until now we hope that our reader would have a very clear, precise and complete idea about the harmful effects of these drugs. And we hope that there are going to be many who won’t have to read it any further in order to quit drugs. But for those who still need more proof we’ll go into a little more detail and explain how CANNABIS and ALCOHOL Interferes with a person’s social life and Academic Careers.

How the use of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL can become dangerous for its user’s personal, social life and Academic Career:

In the beginning we had an overview of how these drugs affects its user biologically, now we’ll shed light upon the things that comes after biological problems; the social life, after crossing through the limit lines, the user feels Disconnected from the society, away from friends, and tends to be alone, the sleeping habits are disturbed and at this stage, the user have little or no control over how to continue with the daily routine, talking specially about students, they would be less attentive and less interested to wake up early in the morning to go to their colleges or universities and attend lectures, because the users concentration power is also slowed down so he/she doesn't consider his/her self in comfortable state of mind that a person normally has when he/she is not on drugs, and as a result, the user begins to ignore opportunities and the feeling of laziness begins to take control of the user. At this point he/she begins to blame his/her luck and destiny for the missed opportunities, and because of the confused state of mind caused by drugs becomes so strong that the user cannot properly figure out what’s stopping him/her from availing opportunities or perform well in exams, Low grades make them feel like losers and cause them to lose motivation and low self-esteem comes as the outcome of such scenarios, which is a shame feeling, that makes the user to hide from relatives and those friends who have succeeded. This takes the user slowly and gradually into the state of solitude, the place which is good and bad at the same time, but certainly for a drug addict it’s not a good state to be living in. Because the chances increase that they may fall into the trap of psychological problems, to cut the long story short, the user’s life becomes messy and confusing.

How CANNABIS and ALCOHOL interferes in the User’s brain Activity and how the use of these drugs can cause psychological disorders:

CANNABIS and Mental Health:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

Depression

Psychoses - schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

ALCOHOL and Mental Health:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/ with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

Alcohol alters your brain chemistry. Our brains rely on a delicate balance of chemicals and processes. Alcohol is a depressant, which means it can disrupt that balance, affecting our thoughts, feelings and actions – and sometimes our long-term mental health. This is partly down to ‘neurotransmitters’, chemicals that help to transmit signals from one nerve (or neuron) in the brain to another. The relaxed feeling you can get when you have that first drink is due to the chemical changes alcohol has caused in your brain. For many of us, a drink can help us feel more confident and less anxious. That’s because it’s starting to depress the part of the brain we associate with inhibition. But, as you drink more, more of the brain starts to be affected. It doesn't matter what mood you’re in to start with, when high levels of alcohol are involved, instead of pleasurable effects increasing, and it’s possible that a negative emotional response will take over. You could become angry, aggressive, anxious or depressed.

Alcohol can actually increase anxiety and stress rather than reduce it unfortunately reaching for a drink won’t always have the effect you’re after.

·         Disturbed sleep
·         Feeling lethargic and tired all the time
·         Low mood
·         Experiencing anxiety in situations where you would normally feel comfortable.

Helpful techniques to help quit, resist CANNABIS and ALCOHOL to get back to normalcy:

How to Quit Smoking Cannabis:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources www.wikihow.com with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

Throw out all your pot and your smoking paraphernalia. If you remove the things that make it easy for you to start smoking again, you might be less likely to give in to your cravings. Here's what you should do:

·         Get rid of any lighters, matches, roach clips, bongs, or containers. Empty out all of your pockets to make sure you didn't miss anything.
·         Flush any remaining weed down the toilet, so you can't simply dig it out of the trash later.
·         Destroy all of your supplies. Or, if you can't render them useless, throw them into a disgusting dumpster so you're not tempted to climb in and get them. (You might want to wrap them in a discreet trash bag first, though.)
·         Get rid of anything that even makes you want to smoke pot, whether it's your favorite video game or a poster in your room. This may sound extreme, but removing your triggers can help you beat your habit.
·         If you have a dealer, take his number out of your phone.

Make your decision clear to your support system. Tell trustworthy friends and family members what you're doing, and ask for their support in quitting. You'll probably find that they're thrilled to see you quit and support you however they can.

This is especially important if you want to remain close to people who are active smokers. Tell them that you're not trying to get them to quit, but you'd appreciate it if they don't pressure you into using. If you get no support from anyone or if they try to get you to "join in", consider whether that person really belongs in your life if he/she can't respect your choices and requests.

You may even have to avoid the friends that you smoke with for a while. If your entire social life with your friends consisted of getting high together, then you'll have to find a new social network. This may sound harsh, but that's the way it goes.

Prepare for withdrawal. The good news is it's temporary: marijuana withdrawal begins 1 day after you quit cold turkey, hits a peak after 2 or 3 days, and eventually levels off after 1 or 2 weeks You might not experience any or all of them, but it's important to have a plan in place for what you'll do about them instead of going back to pot. The bad news is, there are symptoms. Here are some of the symptoms you may experience:

· Sleeplessness: Try to avoid caffeine for the first few days, and hit the hay as soon as you're tired in the evening.

· Decreased appetite: You might feel nauseated at first. Try to eat bland foods that are easy on the stomach, such as bananas, rice, toast, oatmeal and apples.

· Irritability: As you experience the mood swings that accompany withdrawal, you might find yourself quick to anger or prone to crying. Plan for these ahead of time, and when they happen try to take a step back and acknowledge what's happening. Tell yourself, "This isn't me, and this isn't the situation. It's the withdrawal." Repeat it as often as you need to.

· Anxiety: Feeling on-edge or generally out of sorts is a common symptom of withdrawal that can come with quitting any drug. When you have a spare minute, close your eyes, breathe deeply, and remember that withdrawal is only temporary.

· Increased body temperature: you may feel hotter than normal and may start sweating from time to time.

Find a replacement activity. Instead of using, devote your new free time to a hobby or sport. Try to make it something you can do as quickly and easily as lighting up — such as playing guitar or going for a run — and turn to it whenever you're tempted. If you're feeling too bored or depressed to do this, watch a movie that makes you smile or spend some time with a good friend who is not a user. Here are some other things to try:

·         Taking long walks
·         Talking to an old friend on the phone
·         Swimming
·         Cooking
·         Reading the newspaper

Change your routine. In addition to finding a new hobby, you should switch up your routine so that you don't start missing pot so badly during the time that you usually spent getting high. Here are some things you can do:

·         Change your morning routine. Try getting up a little earlier or later, having something different for breakfast, or showering at a different time.
·         Change your work or school routine. Go to work or school by a different route, sit in a different seat if you can, and eat something different for lunch.
·         Change your study routine. If you normally study in your bedroom (which leads to smoking pot), mix it up and study at a coffee shop or a library.
·         Don't start eating less just to change up your routine, though. You may find that you're less hungry, but you should try to eat the same amount to stay healthy. (www.wkihow.com)

How to Quit Drinking Alcohol:

(Note: In order to authenticate our study and to back it up with as much substantiated data as possible, we searched in and made use of newspapers, books, magazines and the internet. The following information has been drawn from these sources (www.wikihow.com) with the sole purpose of gaining knowledge for the study from every perspective possible and to make it more helpful.)

Talk to your doctor. If you choose to start the path to recovery alone, bear in mind that alcohol withdrawal can potentially be deadly. If you start experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms (panic attacks, severe anxiety, the shakes, rapid heart beat) you should seek immediate medical assistance. The condition could potentially deteriorate to delirium tremens, which is deadly, if left untreated.

· Don't feel like you need to quit alone. You are carrying a heavy burden, but plenty of people (including people with medical degrees) want to help you. It's often easier to quit with the help of medical intervention than it is to try it cold turkey.

· Doctors treating withdrawal from alcohol often prescribe benzodiazepines to help with symptoms.[1] Benzodiazepines, which include alprazolam (Xanax), clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium) and lorazepam (Ativan), are psychoactive drugs used to calm anxiety and quell panic.[2] They are relatively safe and are rarely fatal when overdosed.[2]

Change your attitude about quitting. Remember, you're not being forced to give up a good friend who has treated you well. Instead, you are finally ridding yourself of an enemy. Adjust your attitude so that quitting is made easier. Your better half wants you to quit; your selfish half wants you to stay the same.

Try to pick some significant date to quit. Be ambitious, but reasonable. If you are very heavy drinker you must first slow down to avoid withdrawal symptoms (in this case it is best to have your doctor help you plan your quitting date).

Get rid of all bottles, cans, etc. Don't feel that just because you are having guests over you need to offer them a beer, wine, or cocktail. It is perfectly fine to offer people tea, lemonade, coke, or the like.

Feel your feelings. Cry when you need to. Laugh when you can. Eat when you are hungry. Sleep when you are tired. This is going to be really weird at first, but embrace it. You haven't felt your feelings for a long time. You will have a learning curve.

Don't put yourself with people or in situations where you're likely to drink.

There's an old saying about "Playgrounds and Playmates" — look at yours. You may need to leave some of your old drinking buddies and watering holes behind. That being said, it can be quite a revelation to find out that the friends you used to drink with were drinking with you only occasionally and were having two beers or two glasses of wine to your five.

· Don't do anything you don't feel ready to do. If going to the beach is a time when you drank a lot, don't go this year. If going to a certain friend's home for dinner is a time when you drank a lot, get a rain check this time. Protecting your sobriety is the most important thing you are doing right now. Take care of you! Don't worry about everyone else right now.

· In the initial stage, reduce the quantity of alcohol intake. Rome wasn't built in a day. You're probably not going to kick your habit in a week, either. That's perfectly okay. Small victories beget bigger ones. In the beginning, simply try to reduce the amount of alcohol you consume. Going straight from a heavy drinker to cold turkey is a recipe for physical and emotional disaster.

· Imagine that due to excess alcohol, you are vomiting and having paralyzing headaches. If you've felt this way before while drinking, try to summon those memories. The pain you feel is good: it's a willingness to change your habits, and that's the first step.

· Even if you only reduce your daily drinking by one drink, it's a success. No step is too small at this point. A mistake here is getting comfortable only curbing your drinking by one drink. Keep working on reducing the alcohol you consume. Every week, cut down the total number of drinks by at least one. If you want to be more ambitious, try halving the number of drinks you allow yourself each week.

Have food before you drink.

Eating a meal before drinking will reduce your interest for drinking. It will also make it harder to get drunk. If you do this, don't trick yourself into letting your body get as drunk as you would have if you hadn't eaten — although very clever, that's what we call cheating!

Drink a lot of water. Water will help keep you hydrated, make you feel better, and help flush out toxins from your body. Men are advised to drink 12 cups (3.0 liters) of water a day, and women are advised to drink 9 cups (2.2 liters).

Revise recipes that call for alcohol. This will make it harder for you to justify having alcohol in your house. Use non-alcoholic sparkling wine instead, or cut that part out of the recipe.

Don't try to explain quitting to people. Most people do not drink like alcoholics do. They are not like us and therefore they cannot understand the fact that we truly have a problem with alcohol. Of course, there are others who have the problem too. Either way, people will say "You don't have problem!" When you do quit drinking, just say "No thanks, I'll have a Diet Coke — I'm trying to watch my weight." If you hang out with them very much they'll figure it out — and they'll think "Good for him!"

If you are a scheduled drinker, change your routine. If you religiously start drinking right after work or when you go home, change your routine to involve another activity. Visit your parents or a friend. A little change of scenery will help break the cycle of addiction.

· Buy a planner and plan activities during the times when you would normally drink.Idle hands are the devil's workshop, right? If you plan activities with other people, it'll be harder to get drunk. If you write those activities down in a planner, you'll be more likely to do them.

Don’t give up on yourself, Many people will find excuses like, “I’ve been drinking for so long, it probably won’t make any difference,” or “I’ve tried so many times, I just can’t do it.” Some will feel hopelessly defeated if they find that they have something highly progressive like cirrhosis of the liver. Quitting drinking can extend life no matter what’s going on. How long it extends is entirely up to you. Don't justify not quitting to yourself. Quitting justifies itself.

· You should remind yourself that if you were willing to try quitting so many times in the past, you have the ability to try again. There is no age limit nor is it ever too late to try to quit drinking. Even if the last thing that you do is quit, the victory of quitting pays for itself and gives hope to other people.

Don’t let guilt consume you. Some people will feel a sense of foolishness and guilt over not having done something sooner. Don’t pass blame on anyone. Alcohol is the enemy. It has been whispering in your ear and telling you that it’s more important than anything else in your life. There is nothing more important than you. You are of no use to anyone if you die. Hence, you must overthrow the oppressive rule of alcohol and start fresh, just as any country in revolution.

· Feeling guilty is only half of the equation. If you're just getting sober because you feel guilty, you're getting sober for the wrong reasons. You should be getting sober because you care about yourself, you care about the happiness of your family and friends (who care deeply about you), and you care about leaving an impact on the world. Guilt is only half the reason you should be quitting.

Buy a "sober wallet." Whenever you think about buying a bottle or a drink put that amount of money in your sober wallet. It will literally shock you. Staying sober is all about seeing the tangible benefits of sobriety, which we too often don't get to see. Getting a sober wallet will help make those benefits more tangible.

· Use the money in your sober wallet for healthy stress relief: get a massage, visit to a day spa, and join a yoga class. If you're not into those things, buy yourself a healthy distraction like CD box set, a new set of furniture, or some gifts for your friends.

Buy a small piece of inexpensive jewelry as a reminder of your sobriety. Get a ring or bracelet, or henna your hand, or indulge in a special manicure to remind yourself that your hands no longer buy or touch alcohol.

Take a B vitamin supplement daily for your first week off alcohol. Alcohol affects the ability of the body to absorb these vitamins, specifically thiamine.^[4]Deficiency can cause severe cognitive impairment, including Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome or wet brain.

Make lists. Without involving alcohol, make a list of ways to "do" all the things you did when you used to get drunk. Make a list of ways to celebrate. A list of ways to have a romantic dinner. A list of ways to relax and unwind. A list of ways to be sociable. Many people live fulfilled lives without using alcohol as a crutch; convincing every fiber of your body that it's possible makes that jump so much easier.

If you are tempted, try to visualize what you might look like totally out of control. Do you really want to be that person again? Don't fall into the mindset that you're forever going to be that person. You will forever be an alcoholic, but that doesn't mean that you can't be a happy, sober, and well-adjusted alcoholic. That's your goal.

Embrace the psychological benefits of sobriety. Embrace how good it feels to go to sleep at night without slipping into a coma, only to awaken at 3 in the morning with a desert for a mouth and a splitting headache. Embrace how good it feels to remember the people you met the previous night, and to recall their happiness at meeting you. Embrace how good it feels love yourself for who you are, not punish yourself for who you have become.

Remember the reasons why you quit in the first place.

Cherish your reasons. We don't always have reasons for acting the way we do — you may not have had very many when you were struggling — but when we do, they give us meaning and make us principled. That's a good thing. What are your reasons for staying sober?

· "I never want to miss work because I have a hateful hangover again."

· "I never want to embarrass my child in front of her friends again."

· "I never want to be ugly to my spouse because I've had one too many again."

· "I never want to get a DUI (again)."

· "I never want to drunk dial my friends and relatives and act like an idiot again."

· "I never want to hide bottles all over the house again."

· "I never want to have to pretend I remember what happened the night before when I don't recall anything after X o'clock again."

· "I don't want to lose this marriage the way I lost my first marriage to the ravages of alcohol again."

· Or "I wonder what it would be like to feel good again."

Do not avoid all situations where you would normally drink. Instead approach them with a good attitude and remember that you can have a good time without drinking. On the other hand, if you know the temptation will be too great, don't put yourself in a situation where you are likely to slip up. Be smart about your limitations — everyone has them.

Memorize inspirational thoughts. Memorize a prayer, poem or something (i.e. Hamlet's speech "To be, or not to be") to repeat to yourself when you are losing your mind; remembering and reciting it will keep your head together sometimes.

Here are just a few inspirational quotes that you might find help you calm your thoughts:

· "Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship." - Buddha

· "Believe you can and you're halfway there." - Theodore Roosevelt

· "I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles." - Audrey Hepburn

Give yourself a prize for every day or every hour that you haven't had a drink. In the beginning, this makes a bigger-than-expected difference. Wrap the presents up (or don't, it's your call!) and give them to a friend or family member you trust for safe-keeping. Check in with your friend when you've completed one hour, or day, or week of sobriety and redeem your present. Allow your friend or family member to share in your joy.

Ask for support.

It may be the hardest part of your path to recovery, but telling you family or spouse what you are going through and what you are trying to achieve is a huge step. Like it or not, few people achieve sobriety alone, and even fewer sustain it alone. Don't feel inadequate about telling your family and friends what you are dealing with.

Set guidelines for what you'd like your friends and family to accept. If you're game, ask them to take alcohol from you if they see you drinking it. Ask them to be your better half and help you get back closer to sobriety.

Watch as sobriety changes your life in front of your own eyes. After 90 days of complete sobriety, your whole outlook will be changed and your body will be in full recovery mode. You will likely have lost weight; you will likely feel more energized and happier about who you are. You will be like a completely different person.

Don't be afraid to talk about your experiences. Anytime you feel weak, tempted, or pessimistic, reach out to someone you know you can trust. (It's really hard to swallow and talk at the same time.) Lean on them. Maybe it's a sponsor, maybe it's a friend; maybe it's mom. Whoever it is, learn how to open up to your feelings and overcome them instead of stifling your feelings and never truly dealing with them.

· Once you're ready, share your experiences with other people in need. Maybe you agree to talk to high-school children about your addiction and its aftermath. Maybe you write a heartfelt message and post it online. Whatever you do, try to pay all the help you were given forward. Even if you only get through to one person, you've done more than enough.

TIPS:

Why alcohol is taking over your life is a question that will only be answered when you DON'T let it take over your life.
Remember one day at a time don't think of future events just deal with today this will pass !
Do not try to make a habit to quit a habit.
Keep chocolate handy. Chocolate cravings are typical when problem drinkers quit. It will increase your endorphins and help reduce the urges you will feel.
Use a nasty flavored mouthwash frequently. Swish it around in your mouth for 30 seconds to a minute every time you crave a drink. You will associate the flavor with alcohol and will soon stop.

By: Prof Dr. Soshail Akash, PhD, Neuropsychology.

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A Research Study On the affects of Illegal drugs on the Academic, Personal and Social Lives of Students/Young Adults

The affects of Illegal drugs on the Academic, Personal and Social Lives of Students/Young Adults.

Introduction:

Literature Review

CANNABIS and Mental Health:

ALCOHOL and Mental Health:

How the use of CANNABIS and ALCOHOL can become dangerous for its user’s personal, social life and Academic Career:

How CANNABIS and ALCOHOL interferes in the User’s brain Activity and how the use of these drugs can cause psychological disorders:

ALCOHOL and Mental Health:

Helpful techniques to help quit, resist CANNABIS and ALCOHOL to get back to normalcy:

How to Quit Smoking Cannabis:

How to Quit Drinking Alcohol:

Dr. Shit Fun Chew.

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