ACC chairman for combined efforts to eradicate narcotics

Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) chairman Iqbal Mahmud on Monday stressed the need for combined efforts to eradicate narcotics from the society.

He was speaking at a seminar titled "Bangladesh youth society and drug addiction: Present situation" at Teacher-Student Centres (TSC) auditorium on Dhaka University (DU) campus as the chief guest. The ACC chairman said, "Nowadays, the development of the country, corruption, drug destruction or creation are closely related with each other."

While sharing his experiences, Mr. Mahmud said nearly 30 years ago, as a young magistrate, a responsibility was given to him for exhuming a dead body from the grave who died eight or ten days before.

"After going there, I knew that she was a very talented student of a university, but the girl was intoxicated with drugs. She had left the earth by committing suicide due to drug addiction and frustration."

He also said, "the DU students played an important role in the language movement of 1952. So I will request you not to enter the muddy world of intoxication and improve your intellectual development to build the nation."

Prof. Dr. Mahhabeen Haque, Chairperson of Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology of DU presided over the seminar while president of Association for the prevention of drug abuse (MANAS) Dr. Arup Ratan Chowdhury presented the keynote paper in the seminar.

Dr. Arup Ratan said, "there is no data on the number of drug addicts but unofficially there are more than 7.5 million addicts in the country and among them 80 per cent are young, 43 per cent are unemployed and 50 pe rcent are involved in different crimes.

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