Glue-sniffing kids tell their harrowing tales

Muijuddin, Sabuj, Sohel and Alamin in cheerful mood at the Dhaka Ahsania Mission office at Dhanmondi (Left) and an instructor holds discussion with the addicts at the Ahsania Mission Drug Addiction Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre at Rajendrapur in Gazipur. Photo courtesy: Star/Dhaka Ahsania Mission

With the aim of saving street children from drug addiction, Dhaka Ahsania Mission has recently detoxified nine children in a 14-day detox camp.
Peer pressure, easy availability of drugs, broken families and indifferent parents are some of the main reasons for the children to get addicted, officials of Dhaka Ahsania Mission said.
A large number of bus and railway workers, derailed youths take drugs. Children who get in touch of them often get addicted.
FRIENDLY FOES
Most of these children aged between 10 to 15 years lived at Joydebpur Rail Station and were addicted to a common and easily available drug called atha or glue or gum. One of them was addicted to heroin.
Muijuddin, one of the detoxified children, said he got addicted through one of his friends. The 11-year-old boy lived with his family near the railway station and used to collect waste.
"One day one of my friends told me to take glue, a kind of drug. For three days he gave me the drug free of cost. On the fourth day he asked money from me," he told Star City. "By then I was addicted and I had to give him money to get a tube of glue. I needed several tubes of glue daily.”
“It cost me around Tk 100 daily, almost the whole amount I earned a day. I gave nothing to my mother and lied to her about the expenses," said Muijuddin, who became the only breadwinner of his family after his father left his mother for another woman.
"If I did not have enough money I used to steal or ask money from my mother. If she refused, I used to threaten to sell household things," he said.
"I did not feel pain or hunger when I took glue," said the boy, who had been addicted in glue for seven months.
"After I came to this centre I came to know that what I was doing was wrong. Before that I did not know that taking glue was bad. Then I became determined to leave it," he said.
"Now I do not go to collect bhangari (scrap) because if I start working again then I will get addicted again due to pressure from others. Now I spent my days with my mother," he added.
GETTING AWAY FROM PAINS
Sabuj, a 10-year-old boy, also got hooked by his friends.
"One day a friend gave me gum. I took it for two or three days at a stretch and then he asked money from me. I earned Tk 80 a day by working at a car workshop and spent Tk 150 for gum," he said.
"Gum is put on a polythene sheet and then is breathed. I did not feel hungry after taking it," said the boy, addicted for two months.
At present he is working at the car workshop where he worked before.
Sohel, who also works at a car workshop, had been addicted to gum for six months. Getting beaten up by parents was his main reason to get addicted.
"My stepmother used to tell my father that I had been addicted and my father used to beat me up severely for that. Then at one stage I thought if I am getting beaten up for taking gum then why not take it in real because I would get beaten up either way," reasoned the 12-year old.
"I had lots of weird feelings when I took gum. I felt sleepy. I felt numb. I fell while trying to stand up. I felt like the bridge or road is breaking down when I walked on it and got hold of a post so that I do not get bogged down. I did not see a building or a wall in front of me and got banged. I felt like the world was spinning around me," he said laughing.
"A big reason for taking gum was that I did not feel pain if anyone beat me up. I took it so that I do not feel pain when my father beats me up."
There are many kinds of gum -- pasting gum, shoe gum, watch gum, book binding gum etc. Many of these are used as drug.
ALAMIN'S TALE
Alamin, who had been addicted to heroin for three and a half years, said that he got addicted due to peer impact. "Gum has a very bad smell. So I never took gum. I took heroin," he said somewhat proudly.
Alamin works at a fish shop earning Tk 300 per day and lives at a bus station. “Heroin is such a thing that even if you think that you will leave it, it won't leave you," he said.
"Previously I took ganja. One day someone told me that it eats up one's liver. I got scared and left ganja. Then I started taking heroin because I did not want to lose my liver," said the 15-year-old boy.
"One day a friend died in front of me while taking heroin. I got scared and thought of leaving heroin but I could not," said Alamin.
Unlike others Alamin has been staying at the centre for one month. He comes to the centre every now and then.
Like a seasoned addict he described to this correspondent the details of burning heroin on panni, the foil used to wrap a cigarette, and sniffing it. He used to smoke also but now he has quit smoking.
"Before coming to the centre I always carried some heroin with me; at least inside my nails, if not in my pockets. But now I have the will to leave heroin. I have also stopped smoking. I am hopeful that one day I will come out clean," said the scrawny little boy with determination.
CARE IS THE KEY
Sharmen Sharia Ferdous, programme officer, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, said the detoxified children needs care so that they do not relapse. It takes three to 14 days for an addict to come out clean. This time is called the withdrawal period. Withdrawal is very painful for an addict.
"We will form self-help groups so that the children do not relapse. We will do family counselling so that their parents do not neglect them. Our next step would be to rehabilitate them with a job," she said.
Asked how they started with this project Sharmen said that they started with some surveys
and interviews called rapid situation assessment.
"We interviewed 35 people who are involved with drug in different ways. We talked with people working at the railway and bus stations like bus drivers, helpers and shopkeepers. We also talked to the chairman of the Department of Narcotics Control. We interviewed 128 drug users to know about the pattern of drug use," said Sharmen.
"Most of them are heroin addict. A large number of bus drivers, helpers and linemen take heroin. The children who live near railway and bus stations can easily come in touch with these people and start taking drugs," she said.
About the possibility of relapse, Sharmen said that even if one child is saved that would be a good beginning for them.
"The worldwide relapse rate is 40 percent; we cannot go beyond that. But our target is to save all of them. Even if we end up saving one child that would be our starting," she added.
HOW TO HEAL UP
Kazi Rafiqul Islam, president and chief executive, Dhaka Ahsania Mission, said disruption of drug supply chain, family and peer support and building awareness among young people are the important factors to stop drug abuse.
"Frustration, unemployment, financial problem, extravagant lifestyle, lack of ethical sense are some prevalent reasons for drug abuse. The vulnerable groups are unemployed youth, bus and truck drivers, children from excessively rich families etc," he said.
Ahsania Mission gives family counselling to the addicts' families for one year after detoxification. Some goes back to their families; some are working at different centres of the Mission.
Previously, the same initiatives were taken to save 10 other street children from addiction.