The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

Drug addicts spend at least Tk 46 crore on narcotics every day in Bangladesh, where as much as one lakh people are involved in the illicit trade, a top government official said yesterday.

"Dhaka is the largest market of illegal drugs in the country," Director General of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) Humayun Kabir told journalists. "Some 30 per cent of the illegal drug traders are women and children," he added.

"It is unfortunate for us that we have failed to control the use of narcotics," the chief of DNC mourned, as the nation is set to observe the International Day Against Drug Abuse today (June 26).

The director general, however, clarified what he said was on the basis of private sector reports, as the Government lacks specific data on the number of drug addicts or drug use in the country.

A private organisation Family Hall International carried out a survey in 2004 that found that there were some 4.6 million (46 lakh) drug addicts in the country.

No such survey has been done since, Humayun Kabir said. "But a drug addict spends at least Tk 100 every day."

Heroin is the most widely abused hard drug, while Yaba has become popular as a 'fashionable' drug, the DNC chief said. Around 75 per cent addicts are aged between 15 and 30 years.

"We have to increase public awareness about the harmful effects of illegal drugs and build up social resistance against its use," he said.

The DNC has taken up various programmes marking International Day Against Drug Abuse, including rallies, discussion sessions and exhibitions.

DNC deputy director Abu Taleb said the department suffered a shortage of manpower, with only one person for 2.5 lakh people, while many posts have remained vacant for long.

"There are vehicles for our officials in only 7 out of 64 districts in countrywide. We don't have necessary equipment," he said.

Replying to a question from the media, he said: "The department does not have any comprehensive data on numbers of individuals involved in drugs trade."

"Some 8,000 cases are filed on an average every year, and some 8,500 people involved in the drug trade are arrested every year."

"Extrapolating from these figures, we can estimate that about one lakh people are involved in drug trade."

"Abuse and trade of narcotics is mainly urban-oriented. Dhaka is by far the largest market," he added.

The deputy director said drug traders preferred to use women and children for carrying and selling drugs, as they enjoyed relative safety from law enforcers.

The traders saw children as the 'safest', Taleb said, as the law is least strict on them, and they can be employed for running drugs at low cost.

Because of its geographic location in the midst of major drug-producing and exporting countries, Bangladesh is reportedly used by trafficking organisations as a transit point.

The United Nations in 1987 decided to observe June 26 as the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking as an expression of its determination to strengthen action and cooperation to achieve the goal of an international society free of drug abuse.