#PNN E-Mentoring (Taiwo Akinlami): Personal Safety/Self-Protection from Drug Abuse (6)

Dear young friends, sure you are doing great today. I am glad to be here with you today after two weeks away in the wilderness of busy schedule. I am sure you have resumed school and settled down to give your education your best effort this term. I pray that God will crown this term for you with great success.

Today, I will be rounding off this discussion with tips on how to avoid drug addiction:

1. Accept that drugs are not good for you: to avoid drug abuse, you must accept deep down in your heart that drugs and its abuse have nothing good to offer you. The consequences of drug abuse as I have noted on this page are not small and your young minds do not have what it takes to handle it. Therefore make up your mind to desist from drug abuse of any form. This will help you to preserve your future and be free from the consequences of drug abuse.

2. Watch your company: be careful who you join yourself with. Human beings, particularly young people like you are easily pressured into wrong habits like drug abuse by wrong friends. The holy writ says, ‘good communication corrupts good manners.’ Identify where you are going in life and make up your mind that you will only join yourself with people, who are going in the same direction, you are doing in life.

3. Seek for help: if you are involved in drug abuse and you are finding it difficult to quit the habit despite all your efforts, it is time to cry out for help. Silence is not an option. When you speak out, you will find help. Talk to your school counselor or any other person who you know can help you. If you are being pressured into drug abuse by a peer or group of peers, do not give in. It is time to cry out for help. Talk to your parents, teacher and other people, who can call the situation to order. Silence must be embraced, Silence is a killer and it keeps slowly but surely. I charge you today not to die silence and seek for help. Let me assure you that when you seek for help, you will surely find.

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4. Accept that you can be free from drug abuse: I started drinking alcohol and smoking as a child because my father drank and smoked. By the time I got to the university, I started smoking marijuana. I was hooked on drug till I was age 27 (twenty-seven). It was as if I will never stop, but one day, I asked God to help me and he did. God helped me to believe that I could be free from drug abuse. That was 18 (eighteen) years ago. I have been free since then and I have never gone back to my vomit. You too can believe today that you have what it takes to be free and decide to be free. If I can do it, I believe you can do it. I understand that I could not continue to live according to the mistakes made by father. I decided to take my life back and lead a new life. God has been faithful and I am most grateful to Him and I know He is willing and able to help you if you call on Him today.

I will sign out here today. I am through with this discussion. I will begin to discuss with you from next week how to protect yourself from being recruited by terrorist groups. Please note that I am available on this platform for interactions.

Stay SMART and do have your wonderful selves an INSPIRED week.

Taiwo Akinlami is a Barrister & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, foremost Child Protection Specialist, Consultant to UNICEF, governments, and other leading national and international organisations on Child Protection, Independent Legal and Social Regulatory Expert on Child’s Rights and Responsibilities Issues, Legal Enlightenment & Development Enthusiast, Researcher, Social Empowerment Advocate, Author, Blogger and an accredited facilitator of the British Council School Leadership Program. Website: www.taiwoakinlami.com│Blog: www.taiwoakinlami.wordpress.com│Twitter: @taiwoakinlami