BSS, Dhaka :
“At first I experienced the taste of cigarette from friends and got inspiration from them and within a few days, I became a complete smoker.
Later, I became habituated with ganja and liquor gradually. . . I feel the thrill during inhaling ganja or drinking liquor,” what was being narrated by 13-year old Rubel who used to live on the street in capital the city.
The teenage boy said after second marriage of his father, he came to Dhaka from Patuakhali three years back with one of his relatives and started to live at the Bangabandhu National Stadium area.
“Later, I joined as the assistant of a human hauler that ferry passengers from Gulistan to Mugda and the major part of my income spend for collecting drug,” added Rubel.
Like Rubel, a good numbers of juveniles are living on the streets of the capital city, especially bus and launch terminals and railway stations. A survey of ICDDR,B and Most at-Risk Adolescents (MARA), in Bangladesh there were 4.45 lakh street children, of which 3 lakh were in Dhaka and most of them were addicted to different types of drugs.
Besides, Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), in their first survey on street children in 2002, found 6 per cent children were addicted which increased to 13 per cent in 2003 and it reached 21 per cent in 2010.
To bring back those children to normal life, initiatives have been taken both at government and non-government levels.
The government has adopted Child Sensitive Social Protection of Bangladesh (CSPB) project under which few drop-in centers have been set up for treatment and rehabilitation of the addicted street children.
On the other hand, DNC recently signed a MoU with Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) which has empowered DAM as the guardian of the street children to take necessary measures to look after, counseling and other process for rehabilitation. DNC Director General Gazi M Nurul Kabir said both government and private organizations have to work together under a platform as it is being treated as a war against narcotics.
“We’ve to initiate it at first from our family which is needed to spread into community to win the war,” he opined. Besides, physicians said children and teenagers would be affected severely by the narcotic addiction due to their age and it bars their normal growth. Rehabilitation of the addicted children is more time consuming, as they have to be provided special care.
Renowned Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Dr M A Mohit Kamal said availability of narcotics is the key reason for increasing the number of addicted children and teenagers.
The drug peddlers use children and teenagers as their agent for business and street children is their main target, he observed.
Dr Kamal suggested the government and private organizations to develop children-friendly amusement facilities which would keep them away from drugs.
“At first I experienced the taste of cigarette from friends and got inspiration from them and within a few days, I became a complete smoker.
Later, I became habituated with ganja and liquor gradually. . . I feel the thrill during inhaling ganja or drinking liquor,” what was being narrated by 13-year old Rubel who used to live on the street in capital the city.
The teenage boy said after second marriage of his father, he came to Dhaka from Patuakhali three years back with one of his relatives and started to live at the Bangabandhu National Stadium area.
“Later, I joined as the assistant of a human hauler that ferry passengers from Gulistan to Mugda and the major part of my income spend for collecting drug,” added Rubel.
Like Rubel, a good numbers of juveniles are living on the streets of the capital city, especially bus and launch terminals and railway stations. A survey of ICDDR,B and Most at-Risk Adolescents (MARA), in Bangladesh there were 4.45 lakh street children, of which 3 lakh were in Dhaka and most of them were addicted to different types of drugs.
Besides, Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), in their first survey on street children in 2002, found 6 per cent children were addicted which increased to 13 per cent in 2003 and it reached 21 per cent in 2010.
To bring back those children to normal life, initiatives have been taken both at government and non-government levels.
The government has adopted Child Sensitive Social Protection of Bangladesh (CSPB) project under which few drop-in centers have been set up for treatment and rehabilitation of the addicted street children.
On the other hand, DNC recently signed a MoU with Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) which has empowered DAM as the guardian of the street children to take necessary measures to look after, counseling and other process for rehabilitation. DNC Director General Gazi M Nurul Kabir said both government and private organizations have to work together under a platform as it is being treated as a war against narcotics.
“We’ve to initiate it at first from our family which is needed to spread into community to win the war,” he opined. Besides, physicians said children and teenagers would be affected severely by the narcotic addiction due to their age and it bars their normal growth. Rehabilitation of the addicted children is more time consuming, as they have to be provided special care.
Renowned Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist Dr M A Mohit Kamal said availability of narcotics is the key reason for increasing the number of addicted children and teenagers.
The drug peddlers use children and teenagers as their agent for business and street children is their main target, he observed.
Dr Kamal suggested the government and private organizations to develop children-friendly amusement facilities which would keep them away from drugs.
