Part 2: Drugs - the shape-shifting killer

(Baonghean) -There are death sentences, people who have to go to prison, people who die from HIV/AIDS, broken families, wives who lose their husbands, husbands who lose their wives, children who suddenly become orphans and have to live alone, uneducated... All of these heartbreaking tragedies have a common name: the pain of drugs!

>>Part 1: Is Nghe An still a "hot spot"?

It must be affirmed that the harmful effects of drugs are indescribable. Its destructive power is so great that no one can quantify it. We only know that drugs have destroyed countless families, devastated countless loved ones, and countless people have been imprisoned or lost their lives directly or indirectly to this addictive drug.

Here are just a few small examples of what drug victims have to endure.

Until now, people in Truong Son village (Nam Can commune, Ky Son district, Nghe An) still feel sad and regret the death of Lau Y Mo. At only 16 years old, Lau Y Mo had to witness countless times her father Lau Chu Xenh tortured his wife and children, destroying property in the house because of his addiction. Every time he was hungry for drugs, Xenh forced his wife to buy "white goods" for him to use. When the family had no money, they caught chickens, pigs, rice... meaning anything that could be sold or exchanged to bring drugs back for him to "get high". Once, his wife bought poor quality drugs, he beat her, cursed her and forced her to try them every time she bought them. So Xenh's wife also became a disciple of drugs without her knowing.

The family was so poor that Lau Y Mo had to drop out of school to stay home and work on the farm to support his family, but every grain of rice he grew, every chicken or pig he raised was taken away by his father to be exchanged for drugs. Suffering to the point of despair, not wanting to live in humiliation while seeing his father and mother suffering from hunger and drug addiction every day, Lau Y Mo thought of death. That intention became a reality when on March 16, 2009, Mo's family received 1 million VND from the State's poverty support fund. Mo discussed with his father to buy tiles to reroof the dilapidated house, but Mo's father did not agree. Mo asked for money to pay for his siblings' school fees, but his father did not give it to him and also cursed him severely and kicked him out of the house. Mo turned to poison ivy to commit suicide. Before he died, he left a suicide note, which said, "I seek death also to awaken you and hope you give up drugs, regain your strength and continue to work on the farm to support your siblings' education..."

It is natural that drug traffickers, transporters and possessors are sentenced to prison or death. But the consequences are not simple at all, even tragic to the point of heartache. Just understand that every time someone is executed for drugs, a family will be broken, a wife will lose her husband or a husband will lose his wife, a child will lose a mother or a father or both parents will be lost.

In Chau Thon commune, Que Phong district, the place known as the “drug valley” has witnessed many heartbreaking situations. Just because their father, Lo Van Hom, was sentenced to death for drugs, two sisters, Lo Thi May and Lo Van Phong, in Na Puc village, were forced to drop out of school to stay home and help their mother with the farm work to make a living. It was understandable that the older sister, who was “a bit older” and had almost finished 7th grade, had to drop out of school, but Phong, who had only finished 3rd grade, had to drop out. What was even more heartbreaking was that he and his younger siblings were too young to understand that it was their father (or more precisely, drugs) that had robbed them of their childhood of happily going to school.

Not only May and Phong, in this Na Puc village, in this Chau Thon commune and in this Que Phong district, there are dozens of children who have lost their mothers, lost their fathers and cannot go to school because of drugs. May and Phong's mother, Vi Thi Duyen, is still in shock since hearing the news that her husband was sentenced to death. Now with five young children, she does not know how to raise them to adulthood.

In the same situation as Ms. Duyen are Ms. Lang Thi Oanh, Lo Thi Pa, Ly Thi Thom, Vi Thi Phan... wives, women who from now on have to struggle to raise their children, to cope with the difficulties when the family will no longer have the protective arm of a husband, no longer the figure of a male pillar. What awaits them in the future? These young mothers and their young children cannot answer. However, if asked what caused them to fall into this tragic situation, most of them will answer, it is drugs.

Not only Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Que Phong or Vinh City are "hot spots" for drug trafficking, transportation, storage and use that have pushed many families to the brink of life, even many families have fallen into the abyss and been wiped out, but that situation with different levels has been happening in almost all districts, cities and towns of Nghe An province.

It's all because of drugs. Yes! Drugs, the shapeshifting killer, have destroyed so many families, killed so many people, left so many husbands and wives wandering alone, and made so many children drop out of school and lose their childhood.

(To be continued)

Nguyen Ngoc Duc