Experts and stakeholders yesterday said proper enforcement of the amended tobacco control law had become indispensable to protect the young generation especially adolescents from the negative impacts of tobacco use particularly smoking.
Terming tobacco as the root cause, the experts observed that all the life-decaying drug addictions including smoking by the school-going adolescents lead to harmful consequences.
“Cigarette consumption must be restricted among the adolescents to a greater extent for the sake of building an addiction-free society as smoking is considered as the primary gateway drug that eventually leads to drug-addiction,” said Prof Dr Mushfique Ahmed of Rajshahi University.
Salima Sarwar, Executive Director of Association for Community Development (ACD), said “Many parents go through painful experience when they had to hand over their addicted wards to police or rehabilitation centre for their rectification.”
She said the phenomenon has become frequent calling for a comprehensive policy involving social, fiscal, administrative, legislative and enforcement-related issues to reduce tobacco onsumption among the teenagers.
Dr Mujibul Haque Azad Khan said the offenses of juveniles are not only limited to telling lies, running away from schools, stealing, teasing girls, they are also involved in other higher degree of unlawful activities.