Muslim Youth and Drugs: The Reality
.. teens don’t even have to actively seek drugs. Simply being in the wrong state of mind and feeling negatively about themselves, parents and environment can leave them vulnerable to suggestion, and that is all needed to drag them to try anything, being drugs, alohol or crimes.
“It only happens to others.” “My son or daughter would never do such a thing – they are good kids. They stay out of trouble.” Are you really convinced this is true? Unfortunately, these statements are all too common and are a reflection of the state of denial and/or naiveté in which we live. The sad reality is that there are more Muslim youth involved in drugs than we wish to know about. Drug use among Muslims is a creeping enemy that involves the abuse of substances ranging from the inhaling of household products (paint, sprays, glue etc.) to shooting heroin. Regardless of their gender, age, economic or social status, or ethnicity, Muslim youth are not immune to the dangerous world of drugs. And the more we deny this problem, the worse it will get. When we began writing this article we thought we would find only one or two youth that may have dabbled in drugs. But what we learned was shocking. The following experiences are two accounts of Muslim youth’s involvement with drugs. Both individuals come from upper-middle class backgrounds; they both started out experimenting with marijuana. However, the two of them live very different lives today. We begin with Muhammad. He attended private school most of his life, received good grades, and participated in sports. Muhammad had a hard time fitting in with the other students at school, so he began associating with the wrong type of friends. By the time he was 16, he was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana. Within two months of his first use, he was smoking marijuana three times a week. He told us how and why he started, “I was on a trip with a friend, and we were approached by a total stranger who offered us marijuana. It was just something to do. I never previously contemplated using it. It was peer pressure. I wanted to fit in, so if my friends were doing it, I needed to do it too. In retrospect, I had an identity crisis. I didn’t have a strong sense of self-worth and I definitely did not have a Muslim identity. The combination of wanting to fit in and not knowing who I should be didn’t give me any reason to avoid using marijuana. Using it became a method to escape reality.” The point is that our teens don’t even have to actively seek drugs. Simply being in the wrong state of mind and feeling negatively about himself and his parents made Muhammad vulnerable to suggestion, and that was all that was needed to convince him to try marijuana. Muhammad explained that his negative associations had to do with losing respect for his parents. Muhammad had an attitude of “What do they know?” towards them, and their relationship suffered from poor communication. “The farther I got away from family ties, the closer I got to shady types who were involved in nefarious activities”, he explained. “High school is all about fitting in. You are with the same people day in and day out, so you want to become like them.” After a bad experience with marijuana, Muhammad stopped using it. Starting college and leaving his old high school friends was also a way out for him. He didn’t feel pressured into fitting in with anyone in college. “If you are still with the same group of friends in college, you are finished. But for me, I left them behind… I had a new beginning.” The second Muslim youth who succumbed to drugs is Nour. She also started with marijuana, but at a much earlier age. Unfortunately, Nour’s story is far different from Muhammad’s – we were unable to speak to her directly because she is in prison. We interviewed her father, Fuad, who told us that the signs of use were there, but he didn’t pay attention to them until it was too late. He admitted that he and his wife, from whom he is now divorced, fought a lot. He described his family as “dysfunctional.” Fuad said that Nour felt inadequate and suffered from low self-esteem” Fuad felt that her drug abuse began with experimentation. “At that age, kids always experiment with all the things society tells them they shouldn’t.” This desire coupled with a dysfunctional family set the stage for her drug use. When Fuad attempted to take charge of the situation, it was already too late. Nour was addicted to heroin, the most addictive drug of its kind. She only stayed sober long enough to graduate from college but she soon resumed her life as an addict. Fuad said that his daughter feels that she can “have fun now, and wise up later… “The problem with this mentality is that only 5% of these addicts ever get the chance to wise up. The rest die from an overdose, get killed, or end up in jail.” “My daughter is 20-years old and can’t support her expensive habit on her own, so she resorts to illegal activities”, laments Fuad. “She’s now in jail for smuggling and stealing.” Reasons Youth Use Drugs As the above accounts reflect, the main reason youth use drugs is to feel popular or fit in. This desire coupled with feelings of insecurity and curiosity can motivate them to do things that they know are wrong. Many aspects of middle school and high school life conflict with Islamic teachings: dances, dating, parties and revealing clothing. If they are not counterbalanced with alternatives, Muslim youth will justify engaging in bad activities to satisfy their desire to fit in. Solving the problem of youth involvement in drugs requires youth, parents and the community to work together. Here are some pieces of advice: To Parents As parents we must first look at how we raise our children. Open communication between parents and children must be established and encouraged. All too often, parents are naïve of their children’s surroundings, while their children are eaten up by society. Many families are lacking a full system of discipline. Parental expectations need to be well defined, and consequences for not meeting these expectations must be in place and enforced. Muslim parents living in the West must be equipped to meet the challenges of raising teens in a secular environment. Parents should get closer to their children. They should not try to cover up subjects like drugs and sex. We would be foolish if we believe that our children will never see or think about them, or even use them. To Youth It is important that Muslim youth associate with other good Muslim youth in order to enjoin what is right and forbid what is evil. Muhammad, whose story was shared earlier, told us, “Muslim teens shouldn’t just look for other Muslims, but good ones. I smoked my first cigarette with my Muslim friend in the alley behind a masjid.” Religion is like a cup. Once you do something haram, it gets cracked and it leaks. The more your cup leaks, the sooner it will break, and the easier it becomes to do more haram. If your Islam isn’t established by the time you reach high school, you will submit to the pressures. Keeping good company, avoiding tempting situations, and striving to practise Islam fully are the best measures for staying away from drugs. To Community It is imperative to provide alternatives to the many temptations present in our society. Classes, sports, and social gatherings should be offered to youth. Friday and Saturday night activities are especially important for older teens. Youth should be the focus of what happens at the Islamic Centres. We must be mindful, however, of the false sense of security some parents feel because their families are active at the masjid. Some parents are absolutely clueless about their children’s problems. We must openly talk about drugs and remove the tape from the sealed box that we’ve thrown into the darkest corner of our closet. Open forums on issues such as drug use must also be made available. In this manner, teens will realise that they are not alone in feeling affected by the pressures of school and society. Our youth need to feel as though they belong. We must accept the fact that our children are susceptible to all the evils in our environment. The only way we can truly protect our children is to start interacting with them so that we understand the pressures they face. The voices of youth in this article are calling out – they are just like the voices of your own children. •
a work by :
brilliant and brutally honest jazakAllah khayr