Drug Addiction in Bangladesh: “A Consequence of Social Demoralization Rather Than Individual Flaws”

What is it about?

More than 40% unemployed youth are addicted. And among addicted, more than 40% are female, close to 50% are educated and 60% are sex offenders, around 95% are smokers and more than 85% get into consuming drugs under the influence of friends. Needle/syringe sharing practices prevalent among 53% people who inject drugs. Over half of the public vehicle drivers, who operate around 50,000 public transport vehicles, take drugs regularly. In Sylhet, 64% of drug users funded their habits with money from their family compared to national average 17%. Phensedyl is coming back with a hike of 26%. Bangladesh consumes 2 million Yaba everyday, around 1.5 crore people are Yaba addicted, market size $1 billion. A nearly half of female Yaba abusers in rehabilitation reported that they have taken Yaba mainly due to family unrest.

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Photo by Mikail Duran on Unsplash

Photo by Mikail Duran on Unsplash

Why is it important?

The article was first published as a newspaper article which is available in: http://theindependentbd.com/home/printnews/225396