Curbing Yaba menace

Flooding of rural markets with Yaba tablets, sarcastically called 'Baba' there and  seizure of a large quantity of addictive sex-stimulant drug at the same time only expose the horrific magnitude of an alarming disaster. This is a disaster because such drugs simply eat up the vital of  the country's youth. The ongoing political turmoil, as a FE report said last Saturday, has only given fillip to the Yaba smugglers. This is largely so as the personnel of the law-enforcing agencies are now mostly preoccupied with the task of curbing the worst kind of violence and acts of terrorism triggered by misdirected politics. This has otherwise diverted their attention from nabbing drug smugglers, peddlers and abusers. The extent of the problem was amply evident from seizure of a very large quantity of Yaba tablets last week. The Bangladesh Navy seized 1.5 million pieces of such tablets, the biggest-ever haul of 'crazy' drug in the country's history, from a fishing trawler at the outer anchorage of Chittagong port.
Experts have identified Myanmar, Bangladesh's next-door neighbour, as the main source country of Yaba. Through patches of around 400 kilometre-stretch of unfenced, unguarded and nearly inaccessible border with Myanmar in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, smugglers have been using the route since long for smuggling the tablets. Smuggling has increased sevenfold in the last four years. Smugglers shifted to the stretch as law enforcers intensified their patrol on the much-talked-about Naaf river route. Such smuggling is taking place without any hindrance, taking advantage of the geographical location. The recovery figure, as the officials concerned say, however is only a tenth of the total number of Yaba tablets that are smuggled into the country.
Trafficking of addictive drugs, especially Yaba, is a dangerous and often merciless business. Multi-faceted factors are responsible for the drug trade and abuse - Bangladesh's geographical position, diplomatic stance vis-à-vis its neighbours, poverty, exploitation, corruption, poor governance, deteriorating law and order situation as well as changes in culture and people's life-styles. This makes it one of the most ruthless evils in society to address and eliminate. Catching drug traffickers through sporadic raids is not the sole answer to it. Punishment to the drug smugglers must also be made more stringent.  Rampant smuggling of Yaba now-a-days has changed the drug scene in Bangladesh. Such tablets have continued to gain 'popularity' at an alarming pace among even lower and lower middle class youth. Such drug abuse is expensive, highly addictive and very harmful.
A holistic approach, starting with understanding the motivation behind those engaged in the trade as well as its abuse, is imperative to address this menacing problem of drug abuse effectively. Guardians of society have to come forward in launching countrywide awareness programmes in their localities and villages to highlight the dangers of drug abuse. Schools and colleges could form anti-drug clubs. Religious leaders, who do otherwise exert influence in society, can help mount up the drive against such a menace. Furthermore, close cooperation among border guards of Bangladesh and Myanmar in cracking down on Yaba smugglers brooks no delay. Until then, this country will find it hardly possible to prevent drugs from spreading its toxic tentacles all over society.