Imran Hossain, Patharghata, Correspondent
Written by Afrida Ahmed

Children and youth society of Patharghata have become addicted to yaba, marijuana and alcohol. The number of drug addicts is increasing day by day. If the use of drugs is not controlled quickly then social degradation will increase. The local civil society thinks that this is going to increase the criminal activities in the area. It has been found out by talking to some local parents that 45 percent of the male population of Patharghata is emigrant. Most of the men are employed in various jobs so they cannot guide their children properly. They take money by persuading their innocent mother and get in chat with their intoxicated friends. Teenagers within the age of 16 to 20 get more addicted to drugs. Many drugs including yaba have started to spread in middle class and lower class families too. Teenagers, young people, men and women of old age are addicted to drugs. Yaba, marijuana, fencidil, bangla alcohol and various types of intoxicants are available very easily. A businessman of Patharghata informed that the drug addiction has also started to spread among school girls. So, he is very worried about his children.
It has been found out from investigating that the drug dealers target the children who belong to affluent family. First they pretend to be their friends and then they make them curious about drug addiction. These dealers give away free drugs to them for the first 3 days or even a week. When the drug dealers understand that they have become addicted to drugs, they stop contacting them. At that time, addicted young people get desperate to take drugs. They find the drug dealers themselves and are forced to pay for the drugs. Sometimes when you don’t have money, you get involved in bad activities. These drug dealers come from the most influent families of the general society. They target teenagers from low-income families since they are very easy to fall into their traps. On the other hand, they also have contacts with people who have secret links with the administration. These brokers are known as Lal Bahini. Police informed that they always try to arrest the culprits when they get to know about any criminal activity.