Jobless people make up 57% of drug addicts

Anisur (not his real name) owned a restaurant in the capital’s Dakshin Khan area, earning Tk 25,000 to Tk 30,000 per month by selling fast food. He loved his business, and worked day and night to keep his eatery profitable.

When the Covid-19 struck Bangladesh in 2020, it dealt a tremendous blow to his restaurant. Lockdowns measures introduced to curb infections left him with no choice but to keep his eatery closed for months.

After sustaining consecutive losses, he finally gave up on his dreams and shut his restaurant’s doors for good. Depressed after losing his only source of income, Anisur developed an addiction to yaba tablets around this time.

As his condition worsened, the once a budding entrepreneur’s family got him admitted to an addiction treatment centre in Dhaka. He is now free and gradually recovering, but drug addiction has left its mark – both physical and mental – on the youth.

Anisur is yet to get a job, and he is not alone is his predicament. A latest report of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) reveals that the percentage of unemployed drug addicts has increased from 41.30 per cent in 2019 to 57.87 per cent in 2020.

It indicates that the unemployed people make up the highest percentage of drug users in Bangladesh. Besides, those with income between Tk 5,000 – Tk 20,000 are particularly vulnerable to drug addiction, as they make up 45.46 per cent of the addicts.

According to the DNC, in 2020, 7.11 per cent of the drug addicts were small businessmen, 8.12 per cent private or public service holders, 5.08 per cent labourers, 5.08 per cent vehicle drivers, and 11.68 students.

Latest data from the DNC shows a jump in people undergoing treatment for drug addiction in private treatment facilities across the country – from 13,852 in 2019 to 15,181 in 2020.

DNC officials say they are working on publishing another report for 2021, adding that the data is mostly similar to its latest report on 2020.

Covid’s lingering impacts

Seven per cent workers in Dhaka – among those who became unemployed amid the Covid-19 pandemic – did not get their jobs back in the September-December period last year, after public life returned to relative normalcy.

The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) published the findings on January 13 following a study, conducted through interviewing 400 workers and 30 employers from transport, retail and hotel-restaurant sectors in the city’s Mirpur, Uttar, Gulshan, Gulistan and Old Dhaka areas.

Besides, the hotel and restaurant sector has the highest percentage of workers who are yet to get their jobs back, standing at eight per cent, followed by 2 per cent in retail shops and 0.2 per cent in the transportation sector, the study says. Linking unemployment with drug addiction, DNC’s Director (Prevention education Research and Publication) Md Nuruzzaman Sharif said, “A large number of people lost their jobs amid the pandemic as many companies and firms downsized.

“Some of the unemployed people got addicted to drugs, and since 2020, this issue is causing the unemployment rate to go up too. The most vulnerable drug users belong to the age group of 21 to 35 years, and they make up 58.38 per cent of the total addicts.”

Echoing the same, Associate Professor at National Institute of Mental Health Helal Uddin Ahmed said, “A significant number of the drug addicts in Bangladesh belong to the unemployed and middle-income groups.

“Most unemployed people suffer from severe depression and frustration, and they drug as a coping mechanism. Moreover, people belonging to the middle-income group always dream of improving their quality of life. And when they fail, some turn to drugs.”

CPD Distinguished Fellow Prof Mustafizur Rahman said, “Though the economy has rebounded from the Covid-induced rut and many got their jobs back, many still have not found their financial footing. These people are suffering from despair.

“If people begin turning to drugs to cope with Covid-induced unemployment, the situation will become dangerous.” He continued, “Just the enforcement of laws will not help us curb the drug addiction among the unemployed, we need social awareness on this issue too. We must also boost investment from government and private sector.”

5.30cr yaba tablets seized last year

Yaba is a combination of a powerful and addictive stimulant called methamphetamine and caffeine.

DNC officials said yaba is perhaps the most dangerous drug being taken by the addicts. Aside from severe physical and mental degeneration, yaba addicts also take other hard drugs to supplement their addiction.

Law enforcement agencies including the DNC, police, Rapid Action Battalion, Border Guard Bangladesh and Coast Guard seized a total of 5.30 crore yaba tablets across the country in 2021, a significant increase from 3.63 crore pieces in the previous year.

Bangladesh seized more than 30 crore yaba tablets from 2010 to 2021. Government agencies say the amount of total smuggling is at least ten times the number of seizures. “A Yaba tablet’s average smuggling price from Myanmar is Tk 70 to Tk 100, but its average sales price in Bangladesh is about Tk 300,” said Mohammad Abu Taleb, a former director of the DNC. Of the total yaba tablets seized in Bangladesh, more than 71 per cent are seized from Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar – a popular smuggling route for the drug, he said.