Urgent action needed to check drug addiction
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
IT is really worrisome that about 100,000 people have been involved in drug trading in the country. If the number of traders is so high, what then would be the number of the addicted? Can one guess that?
On the occasion of the observance of the anti-drugs day globally on June 26, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) admitted that the government do not have the exact statistics of drug addicts in the country. But a private organisation from its survey done in 2004 claimed that there were 4.6 million drug addicts in the country. It also claimed that heroin was the most widely abused, hard drug and around 75 per cent of the addicts are in the 15-30 age group. Drug addicts spend at least Taka 460 million on narcotics every day, according to it.
This indicates how serious is the problem. Increasing unemployment rate and the consequent frustration are pushing more and more young towards addiction. Vulnerability of women and children, as they have also been involved in drug trading, aggravates the malaise.
So it is now urgent to take all the necessary steps for building a social resistance against the problem in the country. Public awareness alone cannot check the number of addictions. Effective actions should be taken against those spreading the vice of drug addiction. Concerted moves are urgently needed to help strengthen the anti-drug movement throughout the country.
Shahjahan Bhuiyan
Jatrabari, Dhaka
On the occasion of the observance of the anti-drugs day globally on June 26, the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) admitted that the government do not have the exact statistics of drug addicts in the country. But a private organisation from its survey done in 2004 claimed that there were 4.6 million drug addicts in the country. It also claimed that heroin was the most widely abused, hard drug and around 75 per cent of the addicts are in the 15-30 age group. Drug addicts spend at least Taka 460 million on narcotics every day, according to it.
This indicates how serious is the problem. Increasing unemployment rate and the consequent frustration are pushing more and more young towards addiction. Vulnerability of women and children, as they have also been involved in drug trading, aggravates the malaise.
So it is now urgent to take all the necessary steps for building a social resistance against the problem in the country. Public awareness alone cannot check the number of addictions. Effective actions should be taken against those spreading the vice of drug addiction. Concerted moves are urgently needed to help strengthen the anti-drug movement throughout the country.
Shahjahan Bhuiyan
Jatrabari, Dhaka