A K M Mahbubul Alam :
Drug addiction is nowadays a very worrying problem among youths as the number of the youths addicted in drugs is higher than any other age groups. Most of the drug abusers belong to the ages from 18 to 35 which is the matter of great fear and anxiety. And the most terrifying aspect of drug smuggling and transporting is that a large number of women and children are being used for this purpose.
Drugs and narcotics kill slowly but surely. If the harmful drugs and narcotics are allowed to pervade the market and their flagrant use is not prevented, the nation is bound to suffer irreparably, a consequence that not all of us are able to foresee. The abuse of drugs among youth is one of the major alarming concerns confronting the country. Thousands of youths are addicted to drugs on large scale which can break the dreams of the society to shivers.
Due to geographical position, Bangladesh is being considered as a transit point of international drug trafficking. Bangladesh is situated in the central point between golden triangle (Mayanmar, Thailand and Laos) and golden crescent (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran) in terms of geographical location. And it is surrounded by major drug producing countries which accelerate the availabilities of desired drugs to the users. International traffickers who supply drugs to foreign markets are routing their shipments through the routs in Bangladesh.
TV personality and chairman of MANAS, Professor Dr Arup Ratan Chowdhury while presenting his welcome speech at the programme organised by the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) marking its 30th anniversary showed that at least 75 lakh people across the country are addicted to various drugs in comparison to the 10 lakh back in 1990. Various official and unofficial research statistics show that around 43 per cent of the unemployed populations of the country are addicted to drugs. Among them 80 per cent are youth, of whom 50 per cent are involved in various criminal activities. Of the total, 48 per cent of drug addicts are educated. Around 57 per cent are sex offenders, while 7 per cent are infected by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
Among the addicted population, 43 per cent of females take yaba pills. Poor women and street children are engaged in selling and transporting different tytpes of drugs. According to a report, around 1,60,000 drug traders are operating their business across the country. Among them 27,300 are women. According to intelligence report, a drug user spends around Tk 56,560 to Tk 90,800 in a year. By this, it is estimated that 7.5 million drug addicts spend about Tk 50,000 crore annually.
Although Bangladesh doesn’t produce drugs, there are numerous drug dealers in the country who import drug mainly from neighbouring countries. Importers traffic the life-threatening drugs illicitly to Bangladesh for earning black money. Heroin, phensidyl, tidijesie, pethedrine, opium, alcohol, yaba are commonly used drugs in Bangladesh. Some of these are drunk and some are inhaled and some are injected directly into the body. Whatever the way is, these drugs can never bring any positive thing to the body and mind of human being.
Around 50 per cent percent or more of a person’s vulnerability to addiction is attributed to hereditary factor, American Psychological Association reports. The manner in which people are raised has a significant impact on how they turn out as adults, and the same principles apply with substance abuse and addiction. Parental substance abuse is a strong factor which plays an influential role in the development of children when they get older.
Researchers claim that how body and brain react to a particular drug is strongly determined by one’s inherited traits, those are encoded by genes. Those traits can speed up or slow down the way the disease of addiction develops.
It is very common for a person to relapse, but relapse doesn’t mean that treatment doesn’t work. As with other health conditions, treatment should be ongoing and should be adjusted based on how the patient responds. The best way to prevent permanent damage is to seek professional treatment to overcome the drug addiction.
International trafficking is the key source which easily ensures availability of drugs to our youths and, if unchecked, can destroy entire generations. More bilateral and international coordination are needed to uproot the menace. If this trend continues, the number of drug abusers will shoot up to nearly one crore. Illicit sales of drugs should be checked, for this, stern action is required.
(Mr. Alam is Trustee, Ishakha International University and Assistant Professor, Walinewaz Khan College).
