ALARMING SIGNALS OF DRUG ADDICTION AMONG THE SOUTHERN YOUTHS IN BANGLADESH: A SURVEY BASED RESEARCH

Description

Background: Drug addiction is a serious public health crisis which affects almost every sphere in a community in a way or another and this in turn can possibly lead to social disharmony, severe crimes, degraded social status and most possibly physical and mental health deterioration. The sole purpose of our study was aimed to analyze the current awful situation of drug addiction at four different southern cities of Bangladesh. Methods: This cross sectional health based survey was carried out with a self-designed standard questionnaire by manual data collection over a nine months period (12.09.2015 to 10.04.2016) at four adjacent cities Gopalganj, Khulna, Bagerhat and Narail respectively. Total 300 substance abusers were investigated by majorly visiting at their home and sometimes visiting the places where they usually take drugs. Descriptive statistics were applied to the collected data and analyzed using Microsoft Excel software. Results: In this cross sectional study we observed that, 82% addicts are predominantly young males mostly between the ages of 10-30. About 48% are addicted by cannabis, 19% and 17% by yaba and phensedyl respectively. In case of first starting of drug use curiosity, surrounding environment were the primary reason and cannabis as their first drug (61%) followed by phensedyl (16%). At least 53% addict's relayed on locality like friends and 30% used local dealers as a main source to collect these abused drugs. Healthy financial support is very important for collecting abused drugs and 30% addicts spend pocket money, 23% job, 20% business source to buy these costly substances. Although it is important to mention that 61% addicts are compromising either physical or psychological complications but it is one of good symptoms to observe that more than 60% of drug addicts are trying to give up addiction forming agents in these days. Conclusion: In recent years drug addiction has significantly increased in the whole world especially in South Asian countries. It must be emphasized as an alarming sign by the government as well as awareness among the peoples are very essential to stop this critical condition from affecting our future young leaders.
Keywords: Drug; Addiction; Youths; Bangladesh.