Clandestine yaba dealing takes toll

DRUG addiction as well as drug trafficking poses a big threat to Bangladesh as much as HIV and AIDS do to the African countries. While different organizations in Bangladesh hold seminars and rallies warning people against the vile consequences of drug addiction and illicit trafficking, the spread of drug abuse has reached menacing proportions. Most alarmingly, the number of women given to drug addiction has peaked in recent times. According to National Mental Health Institute, the number of female addicts within the age group of 16 to 22 now accounts for some 17 per cent of total addicts.

The crackdown on drug barons in 2007 in some of the most posh areas of the city with seizure of about 1,30,000 yaba tablets and arrest of four sons coming out of very affluent families,  exposed the ugly side of wealth and power acquired in the past days of the last caretaker government.

However, recently, two reports about clandestine yaba dealing carried by the dailies are frightening. Reportedly, Prado jeeps owned by the affluent class are being used by drug peddlers for ferrying yaba
tablets from Teknaf to Chittagong, and then to the capital city. On suspicion, Police on the night of 8 august stopped a Prado jeep coming to Chittagong from Teknaf   and seized some 55000 yaba tablets from under the seat of the car. One Abul Hossain arrested with yaba tablets confessed to police that about 12 such Prado jeeps are rented for yaba trade. In the second case, detective branch of the police raided a house at Banasree and arrested a drug trafficker based in Myanmar  with huge stock of yaba tablets and  machinery  for setting up a yaba factory in that house.

Unfortunately, till the clampdown by Rab in 2007, law enforcers took little notice and the citizenry seemed oblivious of the insidious trade looming up in the society.  Every time drug dealers
or traffickers arrested from different parts of the country along with huge quantity of drugs came out on bail because of weak case framing. Drug lords who operate from a safe sanctuary remain always safe due to their unholy alliance with a group of law enforcers.

Yaba, as it appears has replaced other drugs as the favoured social lubricant among affluent urban Bangladeshis who largely view this drug as a recreational or good –time high. Only recently a law maker in Cox's bazaar has been sued by ACC for his alleged involvement in this ugly trade besides
accumulation of huge wealth through invisible sources.

As the country's urban affluence spreads mostly through corrupt means, so does the number of drug users. The worrying trend is that the age when the youngsters begin experimenting with such party drugs has dropped to16 and 17.  It has been reported that there are about thousands of such dealers in the country and reports suggest  that there are about 10 million  drug users including kids as young a s15 belonging to the wealthy class hooked to such party drugs. In a word, as it appears from reports, the whole country bristles with these illicit drugs of all brands.

After a thorough analysis of the nature of the problem, one is led to believe that till now mainly youngsters including college and university going girls belonging to the wealthy sections of the
society and high income groups are involved in such drug dealing and abuse. But what is most worrying is that the abuse is gradually spreading to the other stratums of the society in an epidemic form,
ruining the economic backbone of the middle and upper middle class people. What's concerning are addicts who refuse to accept that their drug dependence and later face serious psychological, physical and financial problems.

“Money is often used as a surrogate for affection”, so says a social analyst.” Their reaction to drug use by their kids is usually denial. In a bid to find out a solution for drug problem, we must fulfil our commitments as parents.

 When we realize that we are hurting those young members of the family through excessive access to wealth that is not required, we will begin to deal realistically with this problem; Meaning that parental rights must be evenly balanced by parental responsibility. It has to be emphasized that the major enemies of children today are illegal drugs, tobacco and alcohol abuse that inspires anti-social and destructive behaviour in children. With adolescent kids, both male and female being caught with the Yaba tablets, Viagra, and alcohol the drug trade is extending to the farthest corner of the country beyond anybody's knowledge. Even in a small upazila Nikli of Kishoreganj, it has been reported that there are forty drug sale centres, but either in Nikli or in other remote areas of the country, never a strong drive was launched to bust these dens.  Punishment of six months' jail term to the traffickers or dealers awarded by the mobile court is no deterrent to the spread of this vile trade.

In Malaysia, the only punishment for any kind of drug trafficking is death penalty. Nearly 450 people in Malaysia have been executed since 1960, two of them being Australians.  Now a French woman in her 30s in Sabah state may face death penalty for keeping half kg of cannabis and growing cannabis plants in her flat. These unscrupulous people after serving the jail period or after coming out on bail when arrested   start the business again in full vigour. On the other hand, Bangladesh border points with India and Myanmar have become so porous that weapons and drugs are getting into the country with least obstruction. Shockingly, in many cases law enforcement personnel are alleged to be in league with this criminal trade. The government has to frame stricter laws and implement them to curb drug smuggling. The law enforcers as well as the judiciary have to realize the way it is eating into the vitals of the
nation and the arrestees must not be allowed bail under any pretext.

Frankly speaking, it is not these youngsters who are at fault but it is their environment and parents who need the corrective measures as all social scientists have spoken in different seminars and talk shows.

The writer is a columnist of The Daily Star.
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