Photo: Colleted Unicef

DHAKA, Jan 22, 2025 (BSS) – Street children who live their lives without support or protection and are deprived of their basic rights often turn to drugs to cope with the realities of street life, hunger, stigma and discrimination.

No one wants to live on the streets, but these unfortunate people are forced to live on the streets, because their parents fail to provide for them, or they find no alternative because they cannot afford to raise their children.

When we travel through the roads of the capital city of Dhaka, we can find these ill-fated children at various traffic signals. We see some of them are selling flowers, some of them are chatting with each other, while some are washing or cleaning cars to earn bread and butter.

Apart from these, some are seen collecting polythene and bottles of plastic from dustbins.

But they do not know what to do with their earned money due to a lack of proper guidance. Thus, many of them get involved in drug addiction. The addicted kids feel like heaven when they sleep, having these abusive drugs.

While visiting the city’s Panthapath area, this correspondent found that two children were having hemp. They were continuing their drug consumption as if there were nobody near them; they were just boot-faced.

Asked about what they were doing there. One of the children said, “Don’t you see what we are doing?’

The boy told the reporter that his name is Sohel and his friend’s name is Kabir. Both of them are orphans. They usually collect various types of objects from dustbins throughout the day. Then, they sell those to scrappers’ shops.

They deposit their money to a guardian from whom they also collect hemp and dandy. They also sleep in the place of that person.

When asked why they are consuming dandy and ganja, Sohel said, “I do not have parents. When I was only two years old, my father died. After his death, my mother married a rickshaw-puller who did not want to take my responsibility. Then, my mother handed me over to the person with whom I am living now.”

“I do not have anything to do with it. I usually give all my earnings to the person with whom I am living now. He buys food, hemp, and dandy for me,” he added.

Sohel said, “I do not have any wish…I just want to eat and sleep.”

Kabir said that apart from them, most of the street children are addicted to different kinds of drugs.

“I mainly consume hemp, Chakki (one type of sleeping pill),” he said.

They also said that though they only consume hemp and dandy, other children take varieties of drugs such as noctin tablets and gul.

Being informed by the two boys, the correspondent visited the entire Panthapath area and found many children who are engaged in dipsomania.

Among all these abusive drugs, dandy is the most popular among street children for its cheaper price, as one bottle of dandy is being sold at Tk 80-90.

According to statistics, there are one million street children across the country. About 95 percent of them are involved in drug addiction.

Syeda Annaya Rahman, program manager of Work for Better Bangladesh, a platform that is working to prevent drug addiction, said people from all walks of life have to come forward to keep street children away from drug addiction, as these children are the future of the nation.

She also underscored the need for properly implementing existing laws to prevent drug addiction.

Taking advantage of their vulnerability, drug traffickers sell cheap drugs to children and also use them as carriers.

As such, she urged the affluent people to stand by the street children.

Not only are laws enough to prevent drug addiction, but also awareness campaigns are a must to keep these children away from drug abuse, she said.

If the government takes measures to rehabilitate the street children and ensure proper counselling, it will help them bounce back to normal life, she added.