Editorial
Youngsters going astray
A sustained hands-on strategy needed
THE big talk on drug abuse starts again as a teenager allegedly slaughters her parents. Suddenly we are doing case studies on how much yaba, ice, heroin are taken in and who is who in the drug industry.
We are not sure how much we can blame our young generation for slipping and becoming substance abusers when some people holding power are actively participating in the drug business. This business is certainly more profitable in our nation than doing service to the country which would improve, say, education, tourism and transportation sectors -- knowledge, exposure and freedom -- all important components for teenagers while growing up. Building private universities and schools without playgrounds, keeping so-called extra curricular activities in schools which do not interest most teenagers, blocking our roads with construction, pot holes and a lace of unsafe net only create a narrower world.
How many teenagers will pick up a guitar or take singing lessons, how many of them will want to play cricket or football? And if they do, where will they go? The choices left are to hang out at each others' homes, with ample amount of television, Facebook and half-baked underground parties where easy happiness is sold through pills.
It is time we did something to change our system which has done little to support a healthier lifestyle. Lawmakers, build new fields to play, more institutions focused on art and culture, make our roads safer, employ the right people to teach us, and then see how well the business of drugs does in this country. We want to be over with the pink pills.
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