ADDICTIONS of any form are aberrations that are precursors to tragic outcomes in families, communities, and the society in general.
The fundamental fact is that an addict is not affected in isolation by what is a disease that degenerates the mind and, subsequently, progressively, behavioural patterns.
A horrifying story has emerged recently that tells of a young drug addict murdering his mother and wounding near to death, a four-year-old child.

This newspaper carried a news report on November 27, 2020, headlined, “Drug addict allegedly kills mother, stuffs her body in wardrobe” that related, inter alia:- “A drug addict allegedly beat his mother to death and stuffed her body in her wardrobe while assaulting and injuring his four-year-old niece.”

The news item continued: “Reports indicated that Anderson was home alone with the four-year-old when her son arrived, behaving in a manner that would indicate he was “high on drugs.”
Residents said that the drug addict would normally steal items from his mother. Sons are precious to their mothers; except in rare instances, and this affection is often reciprocated. However, an addict eventually becomes crazed and, in extreme cases, loses reasoning power and control of their emotions.

It is most likely this mother grieved to see her son deteriorate to the extent that his life became a tormenting thing – to both of them: But the tragedy lies in the fact that his taking the life of the woman who gave him life is a painful guilt that would haunt him all his life; especially if a period of incarceration during a lengthy period when he is deprived of his drug of choice cures his addiction and restores his mental faculties and emotional equilibrium.

Approximately two years ago a brilliant, beautiful teenage daughter of affluent, influential parents, who attended a prestigious private school, committed suicide because she had become addicted after having been coerced into using ecstasy by her boyfriend, a drug dealer known for seducing young girls from wealthy families and drugging them until they become addicted, so that he has a ready market.

Thirteen-year-old Jerry, (name changed to protect identity) was sent to a young woman for maths lessons. His mother was described as one of the most brilliant women in her country, but she was naïve in the ways of the world and took people at face value. When she was approached by a soft-spoken Jenny, who frequented her business, to allow her son to take extra lessons from her the mother, thinking Jenny was a decent young woman instead of a devious deviant who engaged in aberrant behaviour, readily agreed, because she worked long hours and her children were often neglected.

To her horror, long after her vulnerable, susceptible adolescent son had become addicted to cocaine and cigarettes did the mother discover that Jenny’s seemingly quiet, decent family was evil to the max. The father worked at Demtoco in an executive position and was allowed a carton of cigarettes per month and Jenny’s brother was a drug dealer. Thirteen-year-old Jerry, for that deviant family, was not seen as the brilliant, well-brought-up child of a hard-working mother who entrusted her son to Jenny’s care, because her long working hours doing two freelance jobs while running her business and managing her home constrained her time. He became their cash-cow, easily manipulated into buying their cigarettes and illicit drugs.

Jerry’s life kept deteriorating, as did his loving, carefree, sunny nature, well into adulthood. Needless to say, his mother also suffered the consequences of his addiction. The irony is that Jenny married a rich, influential man and she and her family became highly respected by a gullible society because of her influential husband’s wealth and position: but one cannot help but wonder if her widened sphere of wealthy associates afforded her brother a ready marketplace for his drug dealing..

Parents cannot discount the temptations for their children to engage in aberrant behaviour generated by peer pressure and/or adults who have some influence in their lives.
Whether the addiction is to gambling, alcohol, illicit drugs, squandermania – an uncontrollable craze for shopping, even for non-essentials; all of which are morally and physically debilitating, the end result is often destroyed families and wasted lives.

There is a great deficit of moral guidelines and requisite affordable and sustainable help for addicts. Moralising on various platforms does not transform lives caught in a grip of turbulence that only an addict and his/her families can empathise with.