Drug abuse

A concert organised by the Prothom Alo drew thousands of boys and girls saying an emphatic 'no' to drug abuse. They raised their voice against the menace nibbling into the vitals of our most potent force -- the youth. It has indeed been a special way in our context of creating social awareness about the hazards of addiction.

It is distressing to learn that school students form a big chunk of drug addicts. So if nothing is done -- and we continue to plod along routines lines -- to check proliferation of drug abuse that can cause more havoc than other weapons of mass destruction, we will end up losing a big part of the force of youth. The latest statistics and picture of the extent of drug abuse show that the menace has not only grown big, it is further growing in size.

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But the steps to counter it appear to be too routine and general. There are two facets to the issue which have to be taken into consideration. First, it is not possible for any country alone to put an end to drug trafficking which is now a big business run by very well organised international crime syndicates. So we have to be part of the regional and global efforts in this respect. The countries in this region should work on building a defence mechanism against drug trafficking on the basis of cooperation and commitment to wiping out the traffickers.

Second, the rehabilitation scheme for bringing back the addicts to normal life must attain the desired level of coverage and efficiency. Regrettably, we have not achieved much in this area so far. There should be more organised and effective ways of counselling and guiding the addicts so that they can once again lead a normal life.

Concerts and street plays can go a long way to laying bare the horrible fate that a drug addict will suffer and thus raise the level of public awareness. However, the ultimate success of our programmes will depend on activating the services that drug addicts need and an adequate response to drug trafficking and marketing.