The New Nation - Internet Edition

IT is reported that the number of drug addicts has reached the range of two million and a half in Bangladesh. Of them, over eight-five percent are aged between fifteen and thirty years. As per a survey report on drug addicts, fifty-five percent are unmarried. They remain in the family of their parents and misuse their money. Some of the drug addicts also join gangs of robbers, thieves and terrorists and loot money.

The Narcotics and Drug Control Department and some private organisations, working against the use of narcotic drugs, conducted surveys on drug addicts in the country. Of the drug addicts, forty-three percent received education for seven to twelve years and twenty-five percent for one to six years. Thirty-six percent of them are unemployed. Some of them who obtain jobs fail to retain the employment for drug addiction. Twelve percent of the addicts are students of schools and colleges. The Narcotics and Drug Control Department should prepare a pragmatic work plan to monitor the process of drug addiction. They should note the activities of the youngsters among the drug addicts and bring them under the control of guardians at home and teachers in schools and colleges. The traders who smuggle drugs into Bangladesh through different routes and sell the same to addicts have to be identified and punished.

The society at large bears the burden of the drug addicts. The young addicts drop out of academic institutions. Quite a large number of drug addicts get away from their homes and the families They have already created problems of different dimensions for their families and the society at large. The sooner the corrective measures are taken, the better may be the prospect of checking the spread of addiction and helping youths to grow up as worthy citizens of the soil.