Asia - Pacific

Bangladesh government urged to end rampant drug abuse

More than 7 million people in Bangladesh addicted to drugs, nongovernmental body head tells Anadolu Agency

30.12.2017 - Update : 02.01.2018
Bangladesh government urged to end rampant drug abuse Prof. Arup Ratan Chaudhury, Chief of the Association of Prohibiting Drug Abuse (MANAS)​, a Dhaka-based nongovernmental organization, speaks to media during an interview in Dhaka, Bangladesh on December 28, 2017​. (Sorwar Alam - Anadolu Agency)

By Sorwar Alam

DHAKA, Bangladesh

The government should immediately launch a strict and effective program against drug abuse otherwise the young generation would be destroyed within a couple of years, according to Association of Prohibiting Drug Abuse (MANAS) chief.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, Arup Ratan Chaudhury said the use of drugs among the youth was increasing alarmingly.

More than 7 million people in Bangladesh are addicted to drugs, the nongovernmental organization said in its report published on Wednesday.

MANAS runs awareness programs in schools and universities, mostly in capital Dhaka.

"Our report said over 7 million, that means it is not 5 million as the government claimed. And we think the exact number is much more than our figures.

“It could be 10 or 15 million," he added.

The most common drugs consumed in Bangladesh are Yaba tablets (simulating pills), cannabis, heroin and Phensedyl (a cough syrup), according to Chaudhury.

"Every day, millions of Yaba pills are entering our country through the border with Myanmar while Phensedyl is coming from India," he said, adding these drugs are affecting the roots of the society under the nose of authorities and law enforcement agencies.

The annual drug report 2016, published by the Home Ministry’s Department of Narcotic Control (DNC) also showed that drug flow into Bangladesh had surged in recent years.

The DNC report said 29,450,178 Yaba tablets had been seized in 2016, which was an 80,490 percent increase compared to 2008 when 36,543 tablets were seized.

It also said the “prevalence of cannabis is higher than any other drugs in Bangladesh. Cannabis comprises 50 percent of all the cases detected by the DNC during 2016.”

The report also showed that all types of people in society indulged in drugs, including poor, rich, educated and illiterate people. 

3M drug dealers

Around 77 percent of drug abusers are young people aged between 16 and 35, said the DNC report.

Another study published by non-governmental organization Youth First Concern earlier this year found that drug addiction is on the rise, and that approximately 20 percent of current drug addicts in Bangladesh were women.

Chaudhury, who is the member of National Drug Control Board, underlined that teenagers were the primary victims of drug abuse and added, if the current flow of the drug abuse could not be stopped, the youth would be destroyed within a couple of years.

He urged the government to launch a “crash program" to prohibit drug abuse.

He said there were over 3 million drug dealers across the country while drug business was worth around $7,254,000 per month in Dhaka only.

The government could control the situation "within three months" if it mobilizes all of its related institutes, he added.

Chaudhury referred to the anti-drug action taken by Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte and suggested that Bangladesh should take similar actions.

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), an elite force of Bangladesh, said they were continuously carrying out operations against drug business.

“But it is not a matter that drug abuse can only be demolished by the law enforcement agencies,” Mufti Mahmud Khan, director of RAB’s legal and media wing, told Anadolu Agency.

He said RAB has also been working with local communities to increase awareness about drug abuse.

“Since these pills [Yaba] are coming from a particular country [Myanmar], the surveillance activities in land and sea routes have been stepped up,” he added.

He claimed that due to the intensive actions of security forces, drug flow into Bangladesh had been reduced in 2017.

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