INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST DRUG ABUSE

SAY NO TO DRUGS; KEEP HEALTHY
WORLD CELEBRATES DAY AGAINST DRUG

www.dailytimes.com - This Saturday, 26 June, the world commemorates the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, instituted by the United Nations with aim of helping and sensitizing people to be conscious about the harmful effects of using drugs. In today’s world a great deal of youths are in danger due to the abuse of drugs and their illicit traffic, often caused by people who do not care about the harm they cause on others, thinking only about getting rich. On a message in the ambit of this date, which is being commemorated under the motto “Think about Health Not Drugs”, the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, recognizes that the abuse and traffic of drugs represent a serious obstacle to human development. Ban Ki-Moon writes that the illicit trade of drugs also threatens governance, institutions and social cohesion. On the other hand, he continues, drugs related criminality increases the vulnerability to instability and poverty. According to estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), in the world, about 200 million people use illegal drugs, which represent 4.7 per cent of the world’s inhabitants aged over 14.

The WHO says that these figures are quite alarming, but the effects of drugs use go beyond the harm on users, causing incalculable damages to society. For this reason, the UN Secretary-General calls on all states to be part of the Convention on Transnational Organized Crime. He said that drug abuse poses significant health challenges and most popular means using Injecting drug is a leading cause of the spread of HIV-AIDS, while in some parts of the world, heroin is be used as a drug means and HIV have reached epidemic proportions. Moon added that drug control including prevention and measures to reduce the harmful effects of drug use, is therefore an important part of the battle to combat HIV/AIDS.


The UN wants to break this vicious circle, but in many places, the number of consumers has increased in recent years. Some factors that contribute to drug use are: accessibility, the influence of peer groups, poor family communication, problems of adolescence and what is worse, misinformation about the serious spiritual consequences of drug use.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Once located in the body, the living entity is affected by one of the modes of material nature and he is caught or conditioned. The influences of these modes are: (1) A person in the mode of goodness is happy because their development in knowledge and purity, due to the fact he is more or less free from sinful reactions. (2) A person whose existence is in the form of passion, is subject to feel attachments, unlimited desires and longings. (3) And when the soul becomes conditioned by the mode of ignorance, he can not understand the why of things happen, neither perceive something at all in proper perspective. Usually this person is addicted to drugs or drink and sleep more than necessary. He is covered by inertia, by the illusion, folly and madness ... so, instead of progressing this person is going to degrade.

Gangamata Goswamini dasi
“Studying The Bhagavad Gita”
“Thre Three Modes of Material Nature”
http://bhaktipedia.org/espanol/index.php?n=enciclopedia.gangamata_goswamini_dasi