<i>Tales of drug addict children</i>
When his step mother abandoned him nearly two years ago Abdur Rahim found a new home at Kamalapur railway station.
It was not long before the 12-year-old boy began to take drugs like the other kids he met on the street.
“First we used to smoke bidis or cigarettes. Then we started taking drugs,” said Rashid, who is now being treated for drug addiction at APON, a centre for rehabilitation of drug addicts in capital Dhaka.
Rahim told a seminar in Police Telecom Bhavan in Dhaka yesterday about his addiction and how he is being given the recovery therapy.
“I'm almost cured now…I'm now normal,” the boy told the seminar organised by Retired Police Officers' Welfare Association, Bangladesh.
With him was another boy, Alam who too is being treated at the centre for drug addiction.
“I was introduced to different types of drugs by other children on the street,” said Alam. He said they took drugs ranging from sedative to cannabis.
Police officials say drug addiction is increasing among the street children who live without a family, love and care.
Up to 17 percent of street children in capital Dhaka are addicted to drugs, Abdul Jalil, additional commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police told the seminar.
Though some NGOs and social organisations are working for rehabilitation of these children, the efforts are far from the need.
“Our youths are mainly at risk as Bangladesh is being used as a corridor of drugs,” said Mohammad Salam, former additional Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Salam, also the former director general of department of Narcotic Control, said that the number of drug-addicted children (8 to 12 years old) is around 14.5 percent in Bangladesh.
Inspector General of Police Hasan Mahmud Khandaker called for stronger anti-drug drive by law enforcement agencies, narcotic control department and NGOs
He said especially the children have to be protected from drug addiction.
“We have to shape this drive as a social movement to save our children from taking drug”, he added.
Khandaker Mohammd Ali, director general of Narcotic Control department said that 70 to 80 percent drug addicts in Bangladesh are aged between 15 to 20.
These youths take drugs due to unemployment, poverty and frustration, adverse family environment, easy access to drugs, he added.
Dr M Enamul Huq, former IGP, presided over the seminar.
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