Yaba tablet affects seriously our young generation

Yaba, the Thai word for 'Crazy Medicine' is a round pill form. They are brightly colored in red, orange or lime green and carry logos such as 'R' or 'WY'. They are small and round, roughly six mm in diameter and it is easy for transportation. There are many different ways to inhale the drug, including fashioning water funnels, called turbo out of empty waterglass bottles attached to straws and aluminum foil. The most common method of using yaba is oral ingestion. Tablets can also be crushed into a powder and either snorted or mixed with a liquid and injected. In addition, tablets can be heated on aluminum foil to produce a vapour. The vapor is than inhaled. During World War II, military in the US, Great Britain, Germany and Japan used Yaba to fight fatigue and enhance performance. After the war, Yaba became available to the public over the world. In recent year, the United War State Army, the largest drug trafficking organization in Burma, is the primary manufacturer of Yaba in Southeast Asia; Thailand is the primary market for these tablets. Yaba is a powerful central nervous system stimulant with longer-lasting effects than those of cocaine. This is because cocaine is metabolized in the body more quickly than methamphetamine. Today Yaba tablets are getting increasingly popular among young generation allover the world not only world but also in Bangladesh as it has become available for another drug. The government should realize the matter that for scarcity of wine has been used widely by our young generation who are gradually killing themselves as well as their families and the whole nation. Now Bangladesh is a safe route for Yaba drug dealers because it has been illegally used as a transit points for trafficking Yaba to many Southeast Asia markets. Most of the Yaba comes from neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Burma or Laos. Yaba tablet is trafficked and smuggled into Bangladesh through vast border areas, water-ways and air-ways. And the drug is being trafficked to outside developed world through roadways and ships. Among the trafficking routes to Bangladesh, the vast forests and terrain areas of the hill tracts and the Bangladeshi, Myanmar and Thai fishing trawlers are being safely used for trafficking Yaba into Bangladesh. Right now Bangladesh has become one of the leading drugs' using country. For the using drug in our country there are two reasons behind it. The first reason is the illegal dishonest connection with law and order forces with smugglers and the second reason is the geographical position of Bangladesh which is very suitable for drug dealers to use the country as an international business route. Reliable sources say that almost fifty routes at the border sides at our country are being used for the drugs to enter inside. They are Golden Triangle, Golden Wage and Golden Crescent. Bangladesh has become the first choice for international drug dealers. The drug cartels smuggle amphetamines into Bangladesh from Burma and India, and supply them to different parts of the country, using a strong chain of dealers. The international drug syndicates use Bangladesh as a transit country to move narcotics from Burma to different destinations. A section of dishonest traders and international gangs are involved in illegal Yaba drug peddling. They employ young and teenaged boys and girls, mostly students, to carry out their business. In recent times, Yaba tablets are also being manufactured at home. Locally product Yaba is more popular than the smuggled one into the country, despite its higher price. Most foreign Yaba comes to Bangladesh from Arakan state, Burma. Many drug addicts now prefer Yaba tables to other types of drugs because of their stimulating effects and increasing availability in the country. Yaba tablets were first brought to Bangladesh from Chiang Mai, the northern city of Thailand in 1990, but trading of the drug started to spread in 2000 due to lack of law enforcement by the authorities concerned. In 2011, Yaba consumption became fashionable for the well-to-do in Bangladesh. Before a series of highly publicized drug raids in 2007 by the authorities concerned some well known business people were complicated in related cases. An internal security report revealed the Yaba flooded the country due to lax security. Yaba sex stimulating tablets, has flooded Bangladesh and is being used by the people, especially youths. A huge number of people are now taking Yaba as drug. A large number of women, students, teenaged boys and girls are also involved with the selling of Yaba. The prices of Yaba vary in Bangladesh, depending on types. A price of Yaba tablet is now being sold between Tk. 350 and Tk. 600. Due to availability of the sexual exciting tablets, youths are being highly addicted to it. Consequently, they are facing serious physical and psychological health hazards and being affected with different complex diseases like kidney and liver infection, sleeping problem, lower back pain, etc. Hair loss can also be an indicator of a long-term user, either as a direct result of the drug intake, or indirectly through the user becoming withdrawn and anxious and contracting behavioural habits, such as hair pulling. However, the Yaba drug has been posing a great threat to the valuable lives of our young generation. They are being completely ruined by such a drug. To save our young generation-our future leaders-from its serious harmful effects, we first have to focus on the steps through which we can lessen the accessibility of this drug to the young people. To do this, the government has to ensure a strong grip over law and order force along the border-belt areas so that illegal drugs cannot enter into our country so easily. Inside the country, the police force should perform their role much more honestly to wipe out different drug-selling and-using spots. Moreover, the people should be encouraged to discuss about the harmful effects of Yaba. They should all raise their voice of protest against it. The writer is Librarian, Bangladesh Institute of Fashion & Technology (BIFT) of Bangladesh Garments' Manufacturers & Exporters Association or BGMEA. He can be reached at e-mail: atik@bift.info