It is probably a parent’s biggest nightmare – that one fine day he or she realises that a son or a daughter is abusing drugs.

No matter how much parents try to keep their children away from drugs, there is always a possibility that this will happen. Drugs do not distinguish between social backgrounds. Any youngster is susceptible to the problem, and anyone can fall into the trap.

Anything can push young people – still immature and weak, but who think that they are strong – towards drugs. Peer pressure, stress and other difficulties can always take these young people into a world they think will solve all their problems, little knowing that their problems would have just started.

It seems that the more time passes, the younger the victims become. Some years ago, we were shocked when it was claimed that youngsters start abusing drugs aged 15 or 16; nowadays, children as young as 11 are embroiled in the problem. And perhaps there are younger ones who are still to surface.

It is so sad that so many lives are wasted because of the drug problem. One starts experimenting with the minor drugs at a young age, thinking that all is still under control, and before he or she knows it, one becomes addicted to the hard drugs.

It is a question of health, and a question of money too. Drug abuse is an expensive habit, one that often ends up killing people.

The drug problem makes the news when people die of overdoses, and then it is forgotten by society at large. It is those families who are suffering because one or more of their members are victims of drug abuse who know what it really means. These families shudder each time the phone rings, as the news that their beloved one passed away because of a bad dose is always round the corner.

Life changes for families with such problems. The calm serenity of family life is disturbed as one cannot even leave a purse lying around for fear that the money in it will be taken. Sometimes domestic appliances go missing and then, worse than that, drug abusers turn to stealing from other people to sustain their habit.

The police often make arrests too, and they are known to target events that are most likely to attract people who abuse drugs. But are the big fish being caught? Or is it only the small ones, the abusers, who are victims, rather than perpetrators, who end up in the hands of the police?

Of course, these small fish can lead the authorities onto a bigger catch, and this has thankfully happened. But at the end of the day such occasions have been few, although it must be admitted that it is not easy to apprehend the drug pushers and prove their guilt in court.

There is only so much one can do to keep young people away from drugs. Parents do their best, the schools are raising more awareness through special classes, but then it all depends on the youngsters themselves. Because one can educate them in the best possible way, but ultimately the choice is theirs. Parents, relatives and educators can do their utmost to warn the youngsters, but they are working against a strong current.

Yet, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It is easy to enter the world of drug abuse, and it is much harder to leave it, but the success stories of people who have managed to kick the habit and literally start a new life should be of encouragement to those who are now stuck in deep waters and think there is no solution.

There are people who, with help from those who love them and especially through their willpower and determination, were able to climb out of the darkness that drug abuse brings with it. These stories should serve as examples to all those who today think that there is no way out.

There is.