Drug Abuse

Chapter -A

Introduction:

Statement of the problem

No nation on earth is untouched by the effects of drug abuse. The problem has reached such a proportion that it has become a global threat . From the impoverished villages where drugs are grown to the modern cities where they are ultimately sold, drugs follow a complex route that hits every country in the world; Bangladesh is no exception. As drug abuse and international drug trade are ever increasing global threats. There are millions of drug-addicted people in Bangladesh and most of them are young, between the ages of 18 and 30. And they are from all strata of the society.

A recent epidemiological survey carried out in RajshahiCity shows that the City is going to be transformed into a potential user of drugs with the rapid increase in the number of addicts. It also such that deadly impact of it on the society. For the safety of our people and the society from this deadly game, we have to control illicit drug transportation immediately. Bangladesh finds itself struggling against a powerful force that has become a “menace to the society.”

Objectives of the Study

(a) To obtain the present scenarios of drug addiction of young generation.

(b) To find out the impact of drug addiction

(c) To find out the causes or taking survey.

(d) To give recommendation to save the problem

Scope of the Term Paper

The scope of the term paper is as follows:

(a) The present scenario of drug addiction especially among the young generation in RajshahiCity.

(b) Description of different types of drugs

(c) Impact of drug addiction

(d) Discussion and data analysis

(e) Main findings of research

(f) Rehabilitation of addicted

(g) Recommendation

Research Methodology

Recent trend in Drug Addiction in Rajshahi city is most talked topic  in our country. It is not possible for me to collect the primary data for shortage of time. I have dependent on secondary data. So it is a descriptive term paper. In this regard data has been collected from different type of reference books. journals. newspaper. research reports, website. etc.

 Definition of variables

Drug

Drug is an illegal substance that some people smoke injected etc. to give them pleasant  or exciting takings such as : Yaba, Heroin, ganja, phensidyl etc.

Drug addictives menu getting habituated with stimulating drugs without taking which a user doesn’t fell  well even for a single moment and resists in death in most cause.

Drug addiction :

Addiction means strong attractions to any bad thing. Drug addiction means getting habituated with stimulating drugs without taking which a user does not feel well even for a single moment and results in death in most cases.

Review  of Literature

There have many reports, books and journal on drug addiction, but there have few reports books, journals I found on recent trend in drug addiction in RajshahiCity.

So for preparing this term paper I have depended on those reports, books and Journals which are indirectly related to this  subject. I have got many help from these sources to prepare my term paper.

Limitation

Drug addiction of young generation and it’s impact is a sensitive subject. So it is very difficult to write  on this subject in shot time. For its sensitive character it is also very difficult to get the respondents opinion. Practically as a trainee of foundation training course, I have not get enough time to make this term paper innovative , resourceful resource full and effective. However It is prepared by my hard work and cordial effort. So, I wish, this term paper could be able to make some outcome in future for the nation and for the research.

Chapter – B

Main Body

Current Scenario :

At present, according to several sources like Dr. Robert Kelly, country director of Family Health International and Psychiatrist Dr. Shamim Chowdhury, the drug scenario in  Rajshahi city  has taken a serious turn.

The number of drug addicts has increased alarmingly, especially among the young generation in the past few years. Earlier, drug addiction was associated with lower clear of the city . These days it has become a pressing problem for all segments of the society. People from all walks of life; students, teachers, businessmen, rickshaw pullers and workers are all becoming addicted to chemical substance. Surprisingly School Student are  getting  addicted to it . Research shows that many of the users first take drugs as a sort of experiment or adventure. It is considered “trendy” and “smart” among the youngsters to indulge in them. After using the drug several times, they develop an overwhelming craving for the substance, often accompanied by physical dependence and gradually gliding into addiction. The addicts will resort to anything to acquire the drug of their choice. As a large percentage of the addicts are not financially independent, many of them resort to criminal activities to support the habit.

Types of drugs found in Rajshahi City

There are three types of drugs available in use in Bangladesh.

1. Opium

          a) Yaba

          b) Heroin

          c) Phensidyl

          d) Tidijesic

          e) Pethidine

2. Cannabis

          a) Ganja

          b) Chorosh

          c) Bhang

3. Sleeping pill

          a) Tranquilizer

          b) Seduxene (Diazapam)

          c) Opium

In Rajshahi city the drugs mostly in use are Yaba ,phensidyl, cannabis and heroine. There is also an increasing number of Intravenous Drug Users or IDUs in Rajshahi city.

Yaba :

Yaba is a very dangerous drug which came to Bangladesh very recent. It is so dangerous that its users may fall in death in a short time. It mainly affects the users Kidney and Lunge. Now it can safely be said that Yaba is the most popular drug among the youngsters in RajshahiCity. Most of the addicted students who came from high family are addicted to Yaba. Yaba is prepared in the shape of Tablet or Pill. It has different colours and it look so attractive. Young smart girls and boys are used to supply this drugs. Mainly it came from Thailand.

Phensidyl :

Phensidyl is one of the most popular drug among the youngsters in the city. In the article The drug scenario in Rajshahi, it states that the main ingredient of phensidyl is codeine phosphate. Codeine dulls the sensation and produces an artificial sense of comfort artificial sense of comfort. School students to take phensidyl greatly because of its being cheap.

Cannabis

Ganja or cannabis was legally cultivated in Bangladesh for a long time. However, most of the cannabis used here are smuggled from India, Nepal and Myanmar and is much more potent. Cannabis is widely used in the country because of its low price and ample availability. This drug has been glamorized amongst youngsters by its use by western pop stars like Bob Marley and Jim Morrison. Surprisingly, many of the Bengali band musicians also follow suit and that provokes the adolescent clan even more and school students love to follow them blindly.

Herion

Heroin, a derivative of opium was initially introduced as a painkiller. It is the most dangerous drug in the sense that people can get addicted from the first day of using it .

Intravenous Drug Users (IDUs)

Recently, according to Dr Robert Kelly, the country Director of Family Health International, a group of addicts known as Intravenous Drug Users have started mushrooming. The new trend has brought in a high extent of vulnerability towards HIV/AIDS. He also added that according to available data, 90% of IDUs acquire this disease through the sharing of needles.

The drug that is injected by IDUs is called buprenorphine or tejiti acid locally. The addicts push the needle into their skin and wait for it to bleed which is the sign that it has hit the vein and then pushes the needle in.

ALARMING USE OF YABA IN POSH AREAS

The use of Yaba had been sweeping through the youth populace in the city’s posh neighborhoods until the recent hauls.

It began to spread at an alarming pace since the launch of a massive clampdown on heroin and Phensidyle dealers about a year ago. More and more youths in areas like Upasashar, Laxmipur and Padma Abashik switched to the deadly pills with heroin and Phensidyle becoming less available.

Yaba, Thai for ‘crazy medicines’, however has been the drug of choice among a section for quite a long time now. But as most of the pushers were from families having close connection with the past governments they could not be tough on them, leading to its steady spread.

Narcotics official seeking anonymity told The Daily Star, “We did not dare to challenge the suspected traders though we knew well how some people in luxury cars were peddling the drug.”

A high official of the police said, “Most of the users are students of private universities, colleges and A- and O-level. They think they were above the law in the last five years. But the situation changed after the caretaker government came to office. We have been working without interference for the last one year and the recent hauls are a result of those sincere efforts.”

Citing information gleaned at different times, Sub-Inspector Belayet Hossain of the Department of Narcotics Control ( DNC ) told The Daily Star recently that around one-sixth students of the city’s private universities might be hooked on Yaba, a composite of methamphetamine and caffeine. Even more chilling is the
way students of English-medium schools are getting into it.

He added that after the recent seizures many students are coming to them to describe how the drug has been playing havoc with their fellows.

“We now fear maybe well over 20 percent of the students are taking Yaba regularly,” observed Belayet adding that not only those from affluent families but also the ones from higher middle class and middle class are turning to Yaba.

He said they would be able to have solid information in this regard after an extensive survey that they are planning to launch across the educational institutions in the city next month.

Most of the pushers themselves are in the dangerous trade mainly to bear the whopping cost of their daily drug needs.

According to the Narcotics Control Act, if the quantity of amphetamine does not exceed five grams, imprisonment for a term shall not be less than six months and shall not exceed three years. But if the quantity is more than six grams, the term shall not be less than five years and shall not exceed 15 years.

Acting deputy director of DNC Mukul Jyoti Chakma said Yaba began to roll on to the local scene at the turn of the millennium. Its use took a sharp upward turn in 2005.

Initially, a pill would sell at Tk 800 to Tk 1,000. But with supply becoming plentiful over the last few years the price has come down to Tk 200-500 depending on quality, said sources close to the trade.

Although one of the key functions of the DNC is to gather information on drug use and trafficking routes, none of its officials could give an estimate of how many might be in Yaba trade.

A user who this correspondent had managed to talk to say, “I know over 20 people alone in Dhanmondi area who sell Yaba. Now you do the math how many are there in the entire city.” 1

TRAFFICKING ROUTE

During the late 90s, Yaba would be smuggled in from Thailand in small amount. Since 2000, it began to enter the country in large numbers from Myanmar through Teknaf border. Now there is a vast cartel operating on either side of the Myanmar-Bangladesh border.

An investigation by The Daily Star reveals that dealers in the source area never go out of their localities. They employ mules for the tablets to reach the capital. Some dealers from Rajshahi would prefer ferrying the pills themselves from Teknaf and Cox’s Bazar since there had been little risk of being busted on the way.

A youth who along with a friend was involved in the trade shared with this correspondent a detailed account of how they operated. He said they got into the business after a friend from a rich family convinced them how they could make some fast buck out of it.

They were smart enough to hit the right spot in Teknaf. They did not have to go anywhere; their Teknaf connection arranged it all. All they had to was carrying the pills to Rajshahi, which was anything but risky then.

Like many others in the business, they would wear specially tailored shirts to carry the drug. The shirts are made in a way that whenever one raises his/her arms the hidden pockets move out of the area to be searched. Unless the law enforcers did a strip-search it was hard for them to find the tablets.

Most of the time the two would carry around 500 pills and take passenger buses. Around a year ago they would buy a pill usually at Tk 100 and sell that to dealers in Dhaka for Tk 200-220. The end users would have to count Tk 350-Tk 500. Initially, it was tough to win the confidence of the dealers in Rajshahi as they suspected the two might be planted by police or Rab.

Asked for some names of those who are active in the capital, he said he knew only two major dealers—one in his late thirties would operate from a Chinese restaurant in Shahebbazar and the other from his house located between Star Kebab crossing and Harupur  in Court area. Panchabati and Dargapara are hubs of drug selling.

Meanwhile, a police official said they suspect that besides smuggling, the sellers depend on clandestine laboratories as well to produce the pills.

MODUS OPERANDI

The traders first target one or two students to be their mules. They pick usually

those who are already on some kind of drugs since they are easier to be pushed into taking the pills. At the beginning, they supply Yaba for free but once the youths get dependent, they begin charging them. Eventually they make them peddle the tablets among fellow students for the money needed to meet their own daily doses.

Besides being able to feed their addiction, the pushers make a hefty amount out of the business.

TYPES, USAGE METHOD AND EFFECTS

Of several types of pills smuggled into Bangladesh, ‘Golapjam’ or ‘Golapi¹ or ‘Golap’ (pink pill ) is the most widely used for its longer duration of action and potency. Then come ‘Laal Kutta’ (red dog), green, mango, orange and others. These tablets are usually about the size of the end of a drinking straw. They come in different flavours.

According to the US Department of Justice’s Drug Enforcement Administration (DBA ) fact sheets on Yaba, effects of its usage include addiction, psychotic behaviour, and brain damage. Chronic use can cause violent behaviour, anxiety, confusion, insomnia, auditory hallucinations, mood disturbances, delusions, and paranoia.

A former seller in Rajshahi said fake Yaba tablets that come mainly from the Mitford hospital area pose an even more risk since a mix-up over maintaining the proportion of ingredients could mean a disaster for the users.

Yaba can be consumed in various ways. It can be smoked, snorted, injected or orally ingested. The most preferred way is having it like heroin. In this method, users place the tablet on aluminium foil and heat it from below. They smoke the vapours that rise after the pills are melted.

Though it increases the addiction potential and more adverse health consequences, the technique is popular because in that way it reaches the brain cells faster, leading to stronger kicks.

Reasons for being addicted to drugs

Easy access to drugs :

That is the most important reason. RajshahiCity is the safest place for using drugs from one place to another place because of its geographical location so different types of drug can easily access to the city.

Unemployment Problem:

Most of the young including educated or little educated or not educated are still now unemployed. For this unemployment many of them are suffering from frustration and finally they become addicted to drug.

Estranges in love :

 Many youngsters fall in love in their teenage period. And in most of the cases many of them become failure in love and comit to drug addiction.

Family Problems :

Mental Stress due to family problem in the age of globalization in Bangladesh many families become nuclear family and the number of brones famill increasing day by day. for this remove young suffering from such problem and taking drugs.

Sources of money of buying drugs

* From own income

* From pocket money

* Loan from friends, family members

* Collect money by criminal activities like hijacking, extortion etc.

Where from respondents collect drugs/the nearest drug spots

Specific sellers in the locality

Drug smugglers in town

Houses near border area

Drug smugglers in border crossing points

From police, BDR

Spots beside lanes/roads

Causes why respondents change drugs one after another

* A tendency to increase the dose because the same dose doesn’t create the desired effect.

* Impatience in body an insomnia in not having drug after a certain time.

* A psychological and physical dependence on the effects of the drugs.

to feel better

* Easy access to other drugs

* Lower cost

* Adventure in tasting different drugs

* Desire to have an extreme  taste of addiction

Impact of  drug addictions

Undoubtly it can be said that drug addictions a great problem to our Dhaka city. Its impact is very dangerous. Any drug addict cannot lead his own life normally. In the final stage he commits to death. The research shown two ways impact of drug addiction :

(a)  Social Impact

(i)                Increased Hijack

(ii)             Increased stealing, robbery

(iii)           Increased persona land family expenditure

(iv)           Lost of interest in education

(b) Impact on body and mind :

(i)                Physical loss

(ii)             The victim can not have a sound sleep

(iii)           Sense of perception does not work

(iv)            Hallucination

(v)             Decreased working capacity

Case Study

Study 1 :

Personal Profile: The victim of this case is a young chap named Khaled. Though  he is 15 years of age, he looks like a man of decline years. He continued up to class eight and afterwards was involved in a clothing business. His monthly income is around Tk. 3000. His father also earns. Total family member is 7.

Main findings: He has been using drugs for 2 years. He started to use drugs since he was a schoolboy. Firstly, his friends introduced him to drugs as a means of enjoyment. Gradually he became addicted. He started with ‘ganja’. He sometimes changes his drugs to meet his satisfaction level. He changes drugs one after another from ‘ganja’ ‘phensidyl’, and ‘wine’ to ‘heroin’. Now he is fully addicted to ‘heroin’, and has to take it four times in day.  Without having it he can’t do anything. He has to take at least two ‘puria’s os ‘heroin’ every morning. A psychological and physical dependence has grown in his body. He spends Tk. 80-100 everyday for drugs. Sometimes, for collecting money, he turns to hijacking. He collects drugs from local spots or from particular persons. These drugs come mainly from India through Bibir Bazar border area.

Study 2:

Personal Profile: He is Masum (13), looks healthy, studying at class nine. His monthly pocket money is approximately Tk. 1000. His father is the only earning member of the family consisting of seven members.

Main findings: He has been drug abused for the last 2 years. He started drugs as enjoyment through friends. He started with ‘ganja’. He changes his drugs for more satisfaction. Now he is fully addicted to ‘heroin’, and has to take it at least twice a day. Without having it he can’t do anything. He has to take at least a puria herion every morning. He spends Tk. 80-100 everyday for drugs purposes. For the excess money, sometimes he takes loan from friends or steals his own household materials. He collects drugs from the local spots or a particular person.

Extent of drug abuse in Rajshahi City:

The number of drug users and traders in Rajshahi city has increased sharphy is recent years. According to Department of Narcoties Control, the number of drug users in RajshahiCity are increased day by day –

According to International Drug control programme, the drug takers spend a total of Tk. 50,000 million on drug every year are average of Tk. 130 for every drug user every year.

Table – 2

Classification of drug users according to ages:

Table – 3

According to the occupation

[According to central  drug addict treatment of Dhaka]

Figures cited by International Drug Programme Showed that drug taking rife among the educated class. Some 440000 of this class, a third of them are students, are taking a wide range of drugs.

Thirty seven percent of all drug addicts are students of whom 15 percent are addicated to heroin and phenlidyl syrup, 13 percent to pathedrine injection, 6 percent of hashish and 3 percent to alcohol. Very recently most of the addicted students who came from high family, are addicated to yaba.

Over 1500 truck and bus drivers in RajshahiCity, are taking addictive drugs, Causing a sharp rise in the number of road accidents and resultant deaths. Officials of criminal investigation Department of police said that six is every ten road accidents are caused by drivers who are high on drugs.

The Organizations involved for rehabilitation:

Bangladesh has quite a few drug treatment centers. Two prominent drug treatment centers are Mukti and Prottay. Unfortunately they only provide medical treatment and which usually leads to unsuccessful outcome. As a result, addiction remains a huge problem in the country. In Rajshahi  city  there is no drug rehab centre. Parents usually  prefer to send their  addicted  kids to jail . Some NGOS are engaged in providing  rehabilitation  to the addicted  but their  working area is limited.

Main findings of research

The rexvits which is from my Topic- resent trend in drug addiction in Rajshahi city and  it’s impact are as follows:

 – RajshahiCity is in a great threat for being drug addicted to most of the young especially school going students.

–  The main reason of drug addiction is family conflict.

– Most of the young taking drugs are from 12 to 25 years.

– Collecting money of drug uses humpers the law and under situation

– Drug addiction spin the family and social relationship

– Such kind of problem can be prevented by taking some effective steps

Recommendation

* Open education and awareness supported by the local schools and the media.

* Personal will is the main way to get rid of addiction

* Creating more employment opportunities

* Ensuring proper treatment and rehabilitation measures

* Healthy drug free working environment

* To involve in any creative work

* To avoid mixing with bad company

* Enactment of articles on anti-drug issues in the text books and newspapers

* Media campaign against drugs

* Keep up good family relationship

* Proper family caring

*  Boosting  religious teaching

Conclusion

Drug abuse has become one of the greatest health and social problems in RajshahiCity having a grave impact on the society. This is a culture that has been using intoxicating substances such as cannabis and heroin for centuries and has historically accepted the use of drugs. Therefore, the overuse and abuse of the highly refined and much more potent drugs that suddenly swept the country was a shock to many.

The abuse that was once virtually unknown is now forcing society not to only acknowledge the problem but to understand it, and through its understanding, help fight against it. However, with poverty, unemployment, political instability and other problems, it is seems impossible for RajshahiCity to devoted a large measure of its energy and resources to solving a problem like drug abuse. I am distressed that RajshahiCity apparently is drowning with addiction and not much is being done to help. But through my research, I did spot one light in the vast darkness;

Chapter – C

Reference list

1. The Daily Ittefaq, October 15-30, Topics on drug addiction.

2. The Daily Star Magazine January – 2006, February 2007.

3. Jobo Samaz and Development, G.M. Chowdhury Ideal Prokasuni.

4. Saptahik 200. Volvul – 59, March – 2004

5. The Prothom Alo, 29 October, 2007

6. Internet

7. Library NAEM