Letters to the editor
The alarming challenge from drug addiction
That the number of addicts and their spending have increased to such proportions, signals that Bangladesh has every reason to be very concerned by the rising number of drug users and its consequences for the society as a whole.
Sir,
The case of the heinous murders of a police officer and his wife in 2013 with the alleged involvement of their drug addicted young daughter, must have deeply shocked and pained all normal well meaning people in the country. Helping in the murdering of ones own parents has been unthinkable in our society. But such an act also symbolizes to what extent degradation has developed in our society specially from the increase in the number of users of addictive drugs.
The drug addiction habit has been growing gradually. It is not a sudden development under the present government. Rather the present government was seen battling it with all its powers and as a result the spread of drug addiction could be reasonably contained. But surely as the above case highlights, a great deal more should be done to address this problem.
A media report-- sometime ago-- based on information from the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), is concern raising. The gist of it was that there are at least 50 lakh drug users in Bangladesh who spend taka 50 crore on illegal narcotics every day and 75 per cent of the users are between 15 and 30 years of age.
The report is suggestive of the expansion in the number of addicts. Similar statistics about a decade ago showed the number of addicts and their spending on their addiction to be notably less. That the number of addicts and their spending have increased to such proportions, signals that Bangladesh has every reason to be very concerned by the rising number of drug users and its consequences for the society as a whole.
The Chinese in the nineteenth century were known to be weak and incapable of resisting foreign aggressors. Among other reasons, it emerged from the analysis of historians that their vitality was sapped from a very large number of Chinas population falling prey to smoking opium in that period. However, opium was introduced there by foreigners. There is a lesson for Bangladesh from this historical example. Great quantities of the illegal drugs now used in Bangladesh such as Yaba have a foreign origin. These are smuggled from across the borders of Myanmar and India. These also come through sea routes in the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh used to be mainly a conduit used by international drug traffickers in the past. But now it has become a lucrative market for users as well.
The youth in Bangladesh are faced with ruination in many cases from their growing drug addiction habits. They are gradually getting crippled mentally and physically. Many of them are already only shattered forms of their former healthy selves and are complete liabilities for their families and societies.
Not only this, they are found in most cases to rely on crimes like snatching and stealing to get money to maintain their habits. Others resort to more serious crimes specially when parents and others refuse to satisfy their demand for money to be spent on addiction. Thus, it is high time to check the drug menace from turning worse.
Law enforcement activities need to be made particularly effective and extraordinary efforts will have to be made to bring to a halt the pushing of addictive substances inside Bangladesh as well as making them locally. Our policymakers must recognize drug addiction as a serious national problem to be addressed immediately and very effectively through stepped up and far greater scrupulous and efficient operations of law enforcement bodies. However, the most effective deterrence can be no other than one forged through much greater awareness building about the very negative consequences of addiction, publicity campaigns, role played by family elders and social leaders to that end.
Nazrul Islam
Azimpur Staff Quarter, Dhaka
