Pubdate: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 Source: The Daily Star (Bangladesh) Copyright: 2005 The Daily Star Contact: http://www.thedailystar.net Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3893 YABA ADDICTION Its Extent And Nature Horrifying The crackdown on Yaba peddlers by Rab has exposed the magnitude of the problem of drug use among the affluent youths in the city. Kudos to the Rab team. The details pouring in are mind-boggling, to say the least. Moral degeneration has reached an abysmal state, without our even knowing what has been going on. The situation has turned critical, as addiction looks like threatening a whole generation of youths. The law enforcers' action has apparently forced the drug peddlers to change their modus operandi, and they are now recruiting new operatives to keep the business alive. Obviously, the supply lines have to be cut off to ensure that the deadly drugs don't reach any customer. The illegal business has grown big and the law enforcers will have to make some determined efforts to contain it. There is more worrying news. So far, the general impression was that Bangladesh was being used as a transit route by the drug smugglers. But it is now clear that the number of local users has increased manifold. Worse still, drugs like Yaba are being produced locally! That's also an indication that a huge number of youths have become regular customers of such intoxicants. The question might now arise what the narcotics department had been doing while the drug business thrived. Evidently, the surveillance on production, supply or marketing of such drugs was poor, if at all there was anybody to bother about the ominous proliferation of the drug. Another point that seems to be rather baffling is that the Yaba trade was being conducted by youths from rich and socially well-placed families. Were they powerful enough to neutralise the enforcement of law? What else can we surmise from the way the Yaba trade was going on? Whatever might be the reason behind the malignant growth of drug trade and abuse, it has to be stopped in order to save our youths from self-destruction. The law enforcers have already arrested a number of suspected drug peddlers. And we expect that soon they will be able to identify and catch the godfathers who might have been controlling the business from behind the scene. Drug abuse has to be prevented at any cost, if we don't want to find ourselves ensnared with a social menace of the most unmanageable type. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman