THE ADDICTION ISSUE

Drug addiction is one of the world's oldest ills, and countless
governments have tried to end this sordid industry in vain.

Drug lords are as powerful and slippery as sharks in the ocean, and it
seems no net is big enough or tough enough to catch them. Money is
their object, and morals be damned. If one is ever caught, many others
are born.

Pushers find themselves in the "business" for many reasons, but the
most common is survival, and again, morals be damned. They need the
money, they are too weak to evade the system, and they don't care what
happens to those they lure into the drug habit as long as their needs
for the immediate future are met.

Users are an entirely different story -- their emotional,
psychological, financial and personal reasons vary -- but they are no
doubt an integral part of the deadly drug trade. Without users, there
are no pushers, and this is why those benefiting from the drug trade
will make sure there is always enough misery in the world to crush the
people's spirits, or at least give them enough excuses to take up the
vice. Pushers prey on their ignorance and desperation, selling to them
the temporary thrills of these pleasure pills, the chance to escape a
life too distressing or too boring to face.

That drugs come cheap and readily available nowadays does not help
any, and government is hard-pressed to solve the problem, even as it
comes up with all sorts of schemes and strategies to rid of, or at
least control, the escalating problem.

Yet while it is easy to blame the government for the burdens we face
in our daily lives, we fail to realize our own role in it. For all our
troubles, we lash out at other people -- the society, the lawmakers,
the justice system, the politicians -- anything and anyone else but
ourselves.

No one is saying we should crucify ourselves for an ineffectual and
corrupt system of governance, which, after all, does cause plenty of
problems for society, but perhaps we do get what we deserve. Why do we
let it happen?

Escape has become a solution, when the solution is right there in our
hands. Drug dependence is not the only symptom -- we all have our
various obsessions, passions, addictions, and while some of these are
not harmful at the outset, they only succeed in covering up
deep-seated concerns.

We love to complain, but we don't do a thing to help the situation. We
lose ourselves too willingly in useless distractions (or deadly ones);
we let our values go in the face of the influence of the majority; we
don't guide our children or show them what's right by example; we
don't make time nurture good relations in our families; we fail to
look to our neighbors and offer them a listening ear or a helping hand...

Cliche as it may sound, having faith and love in your life will always
give you a "high" no drug can equal.