THE number of the drug addicts is increasing at an alarming rate in the country. Intoxicants now are available everywhere, from the capital to the countryside, though the government assured ‘zero tolerance’ against narcotics. For flexible vigilance in India and Myanmar borders and involvement of government officials, border security forces, and local leaders in drug trading, have made the crisis has become too acute to solve. Only in the last 12 years, various agencies have recovered drugs worth about Tk 15,000 crore, though, individuals and organizations working on this menace said, this amount is not be more than 20-25 per cent of the total illegal drug business in the country.
Addicts across the country are taking drugs worth an average of Tk 20 crore every day while 1.85 lakh people are working in the drug networks. Around 200 godfathers, mostly political and administrative people run the illicit business. This number is increasing every year. The devastating proliferation of drugs is causing infertility, financial and physical damage. Law enforcers recovered mostly nine types of deadly drugs: yaba, heroin, cocaine, opium, marijuana, phencidyl, foreign alcohol, beer and injecting drugs. The price of recovered drugs in 12 years stood at Tk 14,313 crore and around 7 lakh cases were lodged during the period.
The narcotics Control Department said yaba comes from Myanmar and phencidyl from India. The border security forces over the decades gave assurances to take strict measures against drug traders but actions taken by them could do nothing to stop the drug dealers from continuing their illegal business. Government high officials expressed firm commitment to destroy illicit drug nexus inside the country along the borders.
Drug business is a big business and many are competing for share of it. Success to deal with the killer drug problem as against easy money requires honesty and commitment. We have none of them. The poor unemployed young are easily sent to imprisonment. But the drug abuse is deepening and drug money is bulging.
