Intrduction
Drug and substance abuse has become a common issue among present-day youths. It does affect not only the youths but also all other people of different age groups who have been associated with much intake of drugs. Nearly the impact of all drugs is the same in the people who use such drugs. Among the most abused drugs and that has led to severe addiction problems is bhang, which is referred to as cannabis sativa by another name. Most people say and or argue that they take bhang to reduce stress or just because they want to forget about certain circumstances they are going through in their lives. Bhang has been associated with causing serious problems with the mental and physical growth of these youths in many different ways. Discussed down here are the various ways through which addiction to bhang has caused the youth’s problems when it comes to their mental development as well as physical growth.
How Bhang Affects the Mental Development
Bhang has been ranked among the top drugs that affect the development of the mind negatively. As of psychologists, the development and growth of the mind of an individual require so much if one is to develop without a lot of problems. The first and most important factor that matters in mental development is by one having a sober mind. A sober mind is a mind that has not been fed with any substances that alter the normal functioning of the brain and other parts of the human mind (Onaivi et al., 2017). Since the brain is the most important thing that controls all the activities of a human being, when the brain is affected by being fed with unnecessary substances like bhang, then the whole individual gets affected in so many ways. The brain is known to be the central part that matters so much in the human body and controls all the things that a person does, from thinking to taking of actions.
Bhang intake and addiction among the youths is a big problem because the brain is instigated by the availability of bhang to think of very different things away from what is expected of them. Instead of stress reduction, the normal thinking of an individual is affected, and the individuals cannot reason in the normal way as before. As a result of this, their ways of living and all that they do is controlled by the bhang (Onaivi et al., 2017). A mind fed with bhang is always disrupted, and one cannot be able to concentrate on one thing a time or keep their attention for long periods.
Taking a case where a youth is addicted to bhang and is a student, the brain and or mind of that particular youth is affected by the bhang intake in such a way that he or she cannot maintain the required concentration in class during lectures. Therefore, most of the time, they get disrupted and do not understand what the lecturers are teaching them (Miller, 2017). It is very difficult for such a person to remember what they are being taught because their minds are not normal or sober. It has been a myth for a very long time now that those students who take large amounts of bhang are great performers and that they do well in class. Research has found this to be a temporary impact of bhang on the mind of the person, and then the negative consequences of taking bhang come later. Some so many students have had their thinking abilities impacted negatively by bhang addiction, and they can no longer remember anything they learn in class or even what they see in their everyday life. For example, with time, the structures of the mind of a youth who takes a lot of bhang get affected, and with this, the individual becomes mentally impaired or develops mental disorders.
The minds of such people cannot keep memories for long periods regardless of the environment the person is in. Instead, hallucinations become the order of the day in such individuals because they begin seeing things that do not exist. When a person has a mind whose imagination has been affected negatively, and they begin seeing extraordinary things due to addiction, that particular mind can never develop the same way as that of another one out there who is not taking bhang or any other drug (Miller, 2017). Drugs are known to change the normal functioning of the mind and cause the mind structures to get dormant; thus, instead of the mind continue to grow and develop, it starts getting retarded to an extend that with time the same person develops adverse effects due to these drugs.
From a survey that was taken on youth students taking bhang and another one who was not involved in the taking of bhang, it was found out that the student who took bhang had his brain volume decreased with time. There were no chances of this brain-changing and increasing its volume even after so many years. The mind is like any other part of the body and grows simultaneously as the body develops and grows. However, there are certain factors and circumstances necessary for the development of the mind. If such factors and circumstances are not met, then the brain begins to have retarded growth, and the condition gets worse over the years (Onaivi et al., 2017). As a result of this, it is required that anything like drugs that alter the normal functioning of the brain is avoided as much as possible, not unless they are medicinal drugs. Bhang addicted persons have their thinking changed and tilted in so many ways. They are not able to build on one idea, and thus they get into things that are not necessary under certain circumstances.
The Body Development and Bhang
The body depends strongly on the mind and or the brain to grow and develop. Thus, when the mind or brain has been affected, the impact is felt by the body. It is clear and evident that persons taking bhang or rather the ones who have become addicted to the drug have problems with physical body development. In the first place, as stated earlier, the minds of such become too occupied with other things such that they have no time to get concerned with the welfare of their bodies (Miller, 2017). Bhang addicts never get time to do exercises or eat well most of the time because they are busy thinking of smoking bhang and all other things that are in line with that addiction. They are known to have the poorest eating habits, and they also involve themselves in dangerous things and a risk to their physical body growth and development. Comparing a bhang addict of 18 years and another one of the same age who is not addicted to the drug, the result will always be that the body of the drug-free individual will be in a better condition, and it functions in a better way than that of the other bhang addict. This extends to the issues of body strength and other things that have to do with the body.
Conclusion
Therefore, the brain and body development are so much impacted negatively by the addiction to bhang and other drugs. The development gets much better with individuals who had been affected by being helped to get rid of such addictions and beginning to lead the normal and sober lives without bhang. Bhang addiction is a big problem for most of the youths today because their bodies and minds are not able to develop in the ways they are expected to. Therefore, with this, society is at a big risk of losing the productive minds of the future if bhang and other drug addiction among the youths are not going to be controlled. All effective measures which can be applied should be put into action to ensure that youths are educated on the negative effects of bhang as far as the growth and welfare of their minds and bodies are concerned. Applying control measures will help to counter the effects of bhang addiction, which are known to cause serious damages to the lives of the youths.
