Letters to the editor

The drug addiction menace
Sir,
Sometime ago the immediate past  chief of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told the media that regular drug addicts are to found even in the ranks of the police  these days. This observation of the erstwhile DMP chief underlined how growingly worse the drug addiction problem is becoming in our society.
He also emphasized his point by saying that according to his experience there are no classes of people who are free from the addiction habit. Previously, the spoiled teenagers of the rich and members of the underworld, plus dwellers of shanties, were considered to be afflicted by the drug menace.
But according to the ex DMP chief , respectable professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects and others were also seen as addicts. According to him, doctors now go to operating theatres after taking shots of drugs of their choice and lawyers do the same. Thus, from these brutally frank and revealing remarks of a former top law enforcer, one may get a clue as to how widely the addiction habit has spread.
Drugs destroy not only the moral fibres of addicts but also impact poorly on their professional capacities and skills. The growing addiction habit among responsible professional classes in Bangladesh, therefore, shows up how deadly the problem is now endangering the quality of services delivery to people.
Statistics from the government’s related agencies say that there are some 5 million drug addicts in the country. Although this is a huge and alarming number, the private estimates of the number of the addicts is much higher. More significant is both official and non official sources agree that the rate of the creation of new addicts happens to be a rapidly growing one.
The time to set up effective resistance to the drug menace has been long overdue. Clearly, the different governmental bodies engaged with the problem are doing a sloppy job. Ways will have to be found out to get much better work out of them.
But the greatest barrier to the drug menace can be no other than building social awareness and social deterrence to the same.

Md Nazrul Islam, Nilkhet
University Quarter, Dhaka

Letters to the editor

The drug addiction menace Sir, Sometime ago the immediate past chief of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told the media that regular drug addicts are to found even in the ranks of the police these days. This observation of the erstwhile DMP chief underlined how growingly worse the drug addiction problem is becoming in our society. He also emphasized his point by saying that according to his experience there are no classes of people who are free from the addiction habit. Previously, the spoiled teenagers of the rich and members of the underworld, plus dwellers of shanties, were considered to be afflicted by the drug menace. But according to the ex DMP chief , respectable professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects and others were also seen as addicts. According to him, doctors now go to operating theatres after taking shots of drugs of their choice and lawyers do the same. Thus, from these brutally frank and revealing remarks of a former top law enforcer, one may get a clue as to how widely the addiction habit has spread. Drugs destroy not only the moral fibres of addicts but also impact poorly on their professional capacities and skills. The growing addiction habit among responsible professional classes in Bangladesh, therefore, shows up how deadly the problem is now endangering the quality of services delivery to people. Statistics from the governments related agencies say that there are some 5 million drug addicts in the country. Although this is a huge and alarming number, the private estimates of the number of the addicts is much higher. More significant is both official and non official sources agree that the rate of the creation of new addicts happens to be a rapidly growing one. The time to set up effective resistance to the drug menace has been long overdue. Clearly, the different governmental bodies engaged with the problem are doing a sloppy job. Ways will have to be found out to get much better work out of them. But the greatest barrier to the drug menace can be no other than building social awareness and social deterrence to the same. Md Nazrul Islam, Nilkhet University Quarter, Dhaka