Pubdate: Sat, 2 Jan 2010
Source: Financial Express, The (Bangladesh)
Contact:  2010 The Financial Express
Website: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5116
Author: Nerun Yakub
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/opinion.htm (Opinion)

CAN THE DRUG SUBCULTURE BE BEATEN?

'Build resistance from within' is the advice a no-nonsense educationist
keeps giving to parents and guardians, living in constant dread of the
drug scene in Bangladesh. But those of the conservative bend, a Victorian
mindset, as it were, still insist that a 'good thrashing' would be the
perfect medicine for brats -- before they become die-hard delinquents --
should advice/counseling/warning/ fail to bring them back to normalcy.

But what is 'normal', in the Bangladesh context ? It obviously isn't the
same for all socio-economic classes, although every full-blooded Bengali,
high or low, still holds traditional family and community values dear --
where the elderly retain leadership within the extended family and the
villages, and have a say in the upbringing of the young ones. That would
be considered anathema in today's upcoming, individualistic models of
family in urban Bangladesh. More and more of this bracket of society tend
to emulate the west -- albeit selectively.

For the children of a farmer-fisher-artisan, a 'normal' upbringing is
obviously not the same as for the yuppies of Dhaka (specially those
popping 'yaba' or sniffing 'ice') or the second generation rural migrants
in the cities (taking lungsful of 'glue' or other affordable 'trips' from
various addictive substances on the streets) or the small minority of
conspicuous consumers at the top of the heap (going for ever-more novel
designer drugs plus premium liquors). The therapy for aspiring drug users
or hard addicts, therefore, can be as different as the circumstances or
the perceived causes behind such addictive behaviour.

Although reliable up to date data on the drug situation in Bangladesh is
hard to come by, earlier surveys seemed to suggest that the number of
addicts in the country go into millions.

This, despite the fact that the Narcotics Control Act has provisions
ranging from a five year jail sentence for a proven addict to even death
for a proven trader.

 From time to time the Narcotics Control Department, together with the
other law enforcing agencies, are found to crack down on some illegal drug
trade but the consignments appear to be rather modest most of the time,
suggesting that they either dare not book the big guys or that mutually
beneficial deals take place.

There is some truth in both allegations given the fact that drug traders
and traffickers are more powerful in terms of backing from unnamed
quarters, sophisticated arms and plenty of dispensable money, whereas the
government's relevant departments, assigned to catch these culprits,
suffer from lack of coordination as well as manpower, arms and transport
crises.

Last Monday, a joint raid by the Narcotics Department and RAB managed to
book four young men and women of different nationalities -- Mongolia,
Bangladesh, Tanzania and Congo -- with about one kilo of heroin worth some
ten million taka, from a flat in Uttara Model Town. These are of course
small fry, and the haul is by no means big. Such large consignments would
obviously have the very big fish themselves in view, which might frighten
the law enforcers away or tempt them into compromising situations. The
lucre of such trade can be blinding for anybody unless one is endowed with
the most extraordinary moral character.

The drug subculture is clearly spreading and include brats of economically
and politically powerful people, as well as those from destitute sections
of society. The environs of the city's best known residential areas and
schools and colleges are said to be infested with drug traders and sellers
who easily lure the susceptible into their orbit, hooking them to the
scourge of smoking, inhaling or injecting narcotic substances into their
brains and bodies. The menace has grown out of all proportion, and
thinking and caring guardians are rightly anxious.

Peddlers have been found to even home-deliver the deadly products.

There have been reports some years ago, of boys from one school in the
city centre, slipping out of classrooms to feed their drug habit.

This is an unthinkable delinquency that no school administration worth its
name can let go unpunished. If teenagers cannot be made to abide by the
minimum discipline the school concerned does not deserve to be in the
business at all. For, one of the most needed strategies in the fight
against substance abuse is to have school-based awareness-raising
components, whereby students' moral strength to resist peddlers and
pushers is built as part of the broader character-building exercise.

Parental guidance is another vital input that, in the natural order of
upbringing children with family values, works as a bastion against bad
influence. But what if the parents themselves suffer from a poverty of
understanding, or are so possessive/jealous/resentful of well-wishers'
interventions that they miss the warning signs ? Consider the case of one
eleven-year old from a well-known English-medium school in Chittagong, who
was recently found uncapping a marker pen and sniffing the vapours
intermittently. The connection between this seemingly innocuous habit with
'glue sniffing' did not even strike the parents till a more experienced
relative chanced to see the child repeating the act. The relative
explained to the child why it is bad and what it might do to his mental
and physical health bye and bye. The next day he was caught at it again
and this time received a sound slap, a good scolding and a renewed lecture
from a very angry guardian who happened to be of the old world order, and
heartily believed that you can really spoil the child if you always spare
the rod!

Not all parents would take this from the elders anymore.

Many might fail to see the big picture, and resent such 'violence' on
their child.

But those who still concede the moral authority of elders accept such
actions, of an uncle or aunt or grandparent, as a blessing.

A slap could be a life saver, administered at the right moment, by a
caring relative whose main concern is the well-being of the child.

Many myopic parents who fail to appreciate the merit in such
'interference',prefer to shield their child's delinquency. In such cases
both parents and the aspiring addicts go on pretending that the 'messenger
of bad omens' is the bad guy, and all's well with their world -- till
everything gets out of hand.

A firm national resolve is imperative if the drug subculture is to be
effectively weeded out and the state's concerned authorities absolved of
the blame of being in the thick of it, as the open peddling and pushing of
various substances seem to indicate.

These include deadly potions of hard narcotics, alcoholic spirits and
exotic pills as well as the so-called softer drugs like cannabis sativa
and its different extracts.

Although the latter is on its way be a better reputation, following the
developed world's scientific research, focused on the commercial
exploitation of this versatile hemp for its medicinal properties, experts
warn that its abuse can irreversibly damage both physical and mental
health.

- ---
MAP posted-by: Doug