Out of the many evils of the twentieth century, drug abuse has stood out as a scourge apart from other narcotic influences. The number of young drug abusers has grown steadily at an alarming rate. However, the suitability of imprisonment for young drug abusers is a highly debatable issue.
Prisons are inherently crowded with hard core criminals. Young drug addicts sent to prison are influenced by such criminals and end up becoming even worse criminals. This adds to the problem at hand.
Further to this, crowded prisons are a burden to any society. Prisons are non value generating entities and consume resources that could be used for more constructive purposes. Sending young drug addicts to prison only worsens the situation of already crowded prisons.
On the other hand emphasis should be made on rehabilitating young drug addicts. Rehabilitation centers can be seen as a better alternative. They should be given proper medical treatment and reformed to fit back into society. It should be borne in mind that these youngsters have a good half of their lives yet to be lived. Simply sending them to prison may not only ruin their lives but also cause society to lose another person who may, if reformed, have contributed to the betterment of humanity.
Proper medication, parental involvement and family support are vital during the course of rehabilitation. Also it is important that the addicts do not fall back into there previous environment of drug abuse. It is encouraging to see rehabilitation centers which have already saved many youngsters of this terrible habit. How ever much needs to be done. And imprisonment should definitely not be a part of this agenda.
