Society writhing under \\\'Baba\\\' invasion

"You just go to the shop of Aziz (real named withheld) on the northern side of the Nayergaon Bazaar and get 'Baba' at a low price," this writer heard a man telling a young boy last week.
They were talking about 'Baba', a word then foreign to him.  
Curious about what he said, this scribe was told point blank: "Baba is Yaba."
Nayergaon Bazaar is a bustling market under Matlab upazila of Chandpur district.
Today, 'Baba' connotes the sex stimulant which is sweeping the rural areas of Bangladesh relentlessly. As 'Baba' is easy to carry, phensidyl in bottles is no more frequently heard of there, although it is available aplenty. It is now available everywhere in rural markets, even in 'paan' shops.  
'Baba' has seemingly taken the place of 'phensidyl' in many areas, where unemployed young people and school dropouts, finding no recreational facilities and jobs, gossip in a group particularly in the afternoon hours. They take 'Baba' to relax to be on the 'prowl' in the evening. 'Prowl' means resorting to sex crimes in rural hamlets.
Yaba is more dangerous than phensidyl. One 'Baba' addict said the other day, it serves him in two ways. It makes him addicted and stimulates him to go for unsocial activities only to respond to Baba effect.
With 'Baba' in their grip and viewing of porn movies through cheap laptops made available in rural areas, thanks to striking development of information technology (IT), youths are fast becoming sex perverts.
As a result, the incidence of stalking is on steady rise. Even some school teachers and so-called 'fathers of society', influenced by 'Baba', have earned the ignominy of being caught as stalkers and receiving mass beating.   
But phensidyl has only one effect: it makes one addict only.
The two drugs are equally dangerous. These are now poised to destroy the youth force whose contribution is vital for economic development of Bangladesh. It is often said if a nation is to be destroyed, it could be done by getting its youths degenerated.
Sadly, Bangladesh's youth power is now set to be in the grip of 'Baba' and phensidyl. The two drugs are enough to sap the vitals of a nation. While Yaba is smuggled into Bangladesh on an alarming scale from Myanmar, at a stone's throw from Teknaf, phensidyl comes from neighbouring India.
Powerful syndicates, as reports in the media indicate, are now operating in the country to smuggle these two addictive drugs into Bangladesh on a large scale. The smugglers are alleged to be backed by a section of local level politicians, powerful persons and some law enforcing personnel. Nur Hossain, the alleged mastermind of the seven murders in Narayanganj city, was reportedly maintaining a market of phensidyl at Kanchpur.
The country's political leaders and decision-makers appear to be completely lax about the gravest dangers of drug proliferation the country is facing today.
Due to confrontational and violence-ridden politics, those who matter most in keeping the youth vibrant and free from the clutches of deadly addictive drugs, have seemingly no time to devise ways and means to tackle the menace on a war footing.
As a result, the inevitable is happening.
The other day, a drug addict, failing to get money for buying Yaba, murdered his father, wife and daughter in Sunamganj district. He suddenly attacked the family members with an iron pipe and killed them in a fit of rage as he failed to get more money to buy 'Baba'.
There are regular reports of fed-up parents handing over their drug addict sons to the police.
It is simply impossible for any single organisation to assess the number of addicts in Bangladesh as they are spread all over the country. But the number will surely cross millions and most of them are young aged between 18 and 30. And they are from all strata of society.
A recent epidemiological survey carried out in the three divisions of Bangladesh shows that the country is going to be transformed into a potential user of drugs with rapid increase in the number of addicts.
For the safety of the people and society from this deadly game, the country will have to control illicit drug transportation immediately as well as launch a massive motivational campaigns  in villages, upazilas (sub-districts) and
districts.
There is the Directorate of Narcotics Control (DNC) under the ministry of home affairs. But it is simply impossible for the DNC alone to handle the dangerous situation with its limited manpower and funds.
Experts say it will not be difficult to deal with the dangerous menace if  national efforts are mobilised to detoxify the addicted youth. Here the local government representatives must be directed to form anti-drug local committees with members taken from among students and youths. Village elders can head such committees.
Moreover, the Department of Films and Publications (DFP) should arrange regular film shows in rural markets or union parishad premises highlighting what irreparable harm addictive drugs are causing to the family, society and the nation. Religious leaders also should be involved with such campaigns.

arjayster@gmail.com