Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s instruction to Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) for continuing drives against drug abuse in the country should not be taken lightly, because narcotics can destroy the whole of our young generation if allowed to go unchecked. The present young people especially the students of colleges and universities, many think, do not behave normally: they are restless, a bit arrogant and often show disrespect to the older people. Uncertainty about future in an age of materialism is not the only reason for it: bad habits including substance abuse are also greatly responsible for this.

One may however say that it is the   for life is what goads the young people to abuse drugs. True, but if drugs are readily available before them, these young people can easily get addicted and that is why it is very important to control smuggling, production and distribution chain of certain drugs including yaba. But when powerful people including lawmakers are involved in the drug trade, its control become a wee difficult. The law of the land sometimes fails to bind them even when they are caught in the unholy business.

Still, we get really frustrated when we hear news about the arrest of law enforcers themselves for their involvement in the drug distribution. Just Wednesday night, a police constable was among the three people who were arrested with yaba tablets in Mymensingh. This is very unfortunate. It is now common knowledge that the police in different tiers get money from the illegal businesses in Bangladesh, but when they become active participants in illegal activities our hope for building a good society evaporates.

Therefore, before all, people’s trust on the police personnel has to be restored. Police is there to uphold the rule of law, not work like people who operate underground. Everything has lost in our society—time for assuming this kind of fatalistic attitude will not help us in any way. Time is now for action, hard and effective action, for getting everything right and that is why it is of utmost importance to save our young generation from their perilous ways including drug abuse.

If the law enforcers stand with a patriotic zeal within the bound of law for delivering their duty, our younger generation can be saved from decay and destruction. But we also need to withdraw supporting the morally irresponsible as leaders of our society.