DHAKA: Thirty-year-old Rajon of Nathulla in Barisal got hooked to ganja and heroin way back in 2000.

In 2005, he joined the Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) and was posted at the Barisal launch terminal.

That year Rajon had his first taste of pethidine – the much abused analgesic drug administered by intravenous injection – courtesy a friend from Dhaka visiting him in Barisal.

After several shots he became addicted to the injection drug. Addiction drove him to make friends with other pethidine users in Dhaka’s Sadarghat area.

Tragically, to cut costs, several addicts used the same needle and syringe for injecting pethidine without caring for the consequences.

Rajon says that policemen in Dhaka and Barisal colluded with drug addicts by selling them at throwaway prices drugs seized during raids.

“The policemen are not bothered even if we inject pethidine into our bodies before their eyes”, Rajon told banglanews24.com.

“The law enforcers simply look the other way. They are only interested in making a fast buck.”

Pethidine is openly sold to drug addicts in Barisal with the full knowledge of politicians, police and civil administration. Their callousness coupled with society’s contempt for drug addicts and the absences of administrative measures to combat misuse of drugs are fanning the problem.

Sharing needles – often picked up from garbage vets - is aiding the spread of HIV among pethidine addicts, say NGOs in the field trying to do the job which is legitimately the government’s.

Five injection drug users bared their hearts to this correspondent at ‘Dropping Centre’, an NGO in Barisal’s Jail Gate area.

They said there are too many obstacles in the path of addicts yearning to kick the deadly habit and lead a normal life.

Sohel, a 19-year-old, tasted pethidine thanks to his elder brother, Belal, three years ago. Now he can’t live without pethidine.

Sohel told this correspondent: “Initially I was terrified of piercing my skin with a needle. But Belal bhai injected pethidine into my forearm. The drug gave me a headache.”

“Soon everyone in the family found out that I was hooked to pethidine. My father stopped my pocket money but I can’t live without pethidine.”

Similarly, Ratan was introduced to pethidine by his own uncle. A fisherman by profession, 28-year-old Ratan was addicted to phensidyl before he got his first taste of pethidine.

Despite marriage and children, Ratan has not been able to break free from the clutches of pethidine. He knows that the injection drug is ruining his life along with his family’s, but he says he is helpless.

Ratan says that doctors are reluctant to treat him.  So he injects pethidine three or four times daily into his sickly body sharing a needle and syringe with fellow addicts.   

Conversations with victims revealed that virtually all of them were introduced to pethidne by a friend or relative and share a needle exposing all of them to HIV infection which can prove fatal if not treated.

The addicts informed this correspondent that each ampoule costs Tk 250 and injections of different sizes cost between 5 and 10 Tk. And all of them resorted to petty crime like stealing and snatching to pay for the drug.

Injection drug user Baten, 30, said that police do not arrest heroin or pethidine addicts as they “pollute” the lock-up. Policemen also do not beat up addicts as their health is frail and they might succumb to blows putting law enforcers in a tight spot.

Rubel, 26, used to beat his mother when she refused to give him money to buy pethidine

‘Bhai, I went astray,’ he lamented, ‘What can I do? I can’t think of anything except pathidine when my whole body craves for it.” Rubel is so frustrated that he says he will rot in hell without forgiveness.  

Requesting anonymity, a district drug control official said that  drugs are available and openly sold at Katpatti, Amir Kutir, Save the Children Kawnia branch adjacent first and second pond areas, Shahpara Link Road, Section Road, Monsha Bari, Bhatikhana, New Bhatikhana temple areas in the city.

He said that ampoules of pethidine are smuggled out of Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in Barisal. From the hospital, pethidine finds its way to a nearby pharmacy.

He added that pethidine is produced only by Essential Drug company and it cannot be sold without a doctor’s prescription. But pharmacists break the law with impunity for financial gains.

Care Bangladesh injectable drug user project chief Dr Rupali Shishir Banu said: “Injectable drug users are spread across the nation. They administer drugs to themselves with a syringe”, she said.

Rupali said that HIV infections are on the rise because of drug users sharing needles, female sex-workers, hermaphrodites or people of third gender, female friends, professional blood donors, male sex-workers and spouse.

According to World Health Organization, due to rapid spread of commercial blood donation and unsafe sexual activities and Hepatitis B and C, the drug addicts who use injections are at a high risk. Injection-user addicts have little chance of getting relief from drugs.

Hence drug users are advised not to use the same syringe, switch to smoke-based addictions and eventually kick the habit altogether.

NGO Save the Children’s HIV and AIDS sector senior project manager, Shakhwat Alam, told banglanews24.com that abuse of pethidine is rampant only in Barisal as people in other districts are addicted to morphine.

He mooted a slew of measures to check drug addiction. The steps include monitoring the production and sale of drugs liable to be misused, and ensuring timely treatment of addicts. Compassion is necessary, according to him, because addicts are not known to respond to coercion.

“If police swoop down on addicts and vendors, they tend to shift to another place”, he said,“ but do not wind up the drug business. Hence, they should be counseled so that they realize the gravity of the situation”, Shakhwat said.

When asked about the easy availability of pethidine in Barisal, the district drug control authority’s deputy director Md Shahnewaz told banglanews24.com that the government was trying to rehabilitate addicts besides periodic drives by law enforcing agencies.

BDST: 1531 HRS, JAN 11, 2013
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor