Drug abuse, especially a substance used as glue, among street children has increased exponentially in the recent years, according to sources.
Street children in the capital are addicted to, what they call 'Dandy', the adhesive glue, used by shoe repairers, contains toluene, a sweet-smelling and intoxicating hydrocarbon. The solvent dissolves the membrane of brain cells and causes hallucinations as well as dampens hunger pangs. Street children use or abuse the substance stifle hunger, according to sources.
According to Department of Narcotics Control (DNC), 56 percent of the street children in the country are addicted to different kinds of drugs, while 21 percent of them are being used as carriers of drugs.
Rahim, an orphan who sleeps on footpaths of Motijhill in the capital, said he chose Dandy as a drug as it is cheap and it is
easily available.
"What I earn by collecting garbage, I spend some for my food and with the rest I buy Dandy ... I do love to sleep all day," he said with a taunting smile on his face.
Currently, breathing in fumes from glue-soaked rags and glue-filled plastic bags is a normal activity for a large number of Dhaka's slum kids or street children like Rahim.
The street children carry Dandy in plastic bags and put their mouths in the plastic bag to inhale. Sometimes they gather in groups to take turns to inhale in public places especially at the bus stations, train stations, launch terminals, footpaths, and footbridges.
A high official of law enforcing agency preferring anonymity told The Daily Observer that lack of monitoring is the prime reason behind the rise in addiction among children.
A World Bank study indicated that a stunning number of Dhaka's 249,000 street children are addicted to drugs, most to glue-sniffing.
The reason for the situation has also been identified - easy availability of drugs - with 53 percent of the children surveyed saying they can buy drugs directly from the traffickers. The study also identified the districts where the number of vulnerable children is higher.
Although there are no reliable current figures, the number of street children in the country stood at 1.5 million in 2015, as per Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).
Living as they do - on the streets, with no support or protection and deprived of all their rights - these children often resort to drugs to feel good about themselves.
"Smugglers use children to carry narcotics from one place to another to dodge law enforcers. On the way, the children try them and become addicted," according to sources.
Taking advantage of their vulnerability, drug traffickers sell cheap drugs to them and also use them as carriers.
Equally importantly, to rehabilitate this large number of street children who remain vulnerable to all kinds of abuse, not just of drugs, the government should create a thorough database with updated information and take measures to ensure their wellbeing, according to sources.
