United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has stressed the need for taking measures to end drug abuse, illicit trafficking and the stigma that drug users go through.
“Drug users are doubly victimized: first by the harmful effects of the drugs themselves, and second by the discrimination they face,” he said in a tweet on Monday, when the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking is being observed worldwide.
“This means stressing rehabilitation, rather than punishment and incarceration for minor drug offences,” Guterres said in a message.
He stated that tens of millions of people suffer from drug-use disorders but less than one-fifth are in treatment.
“People who use drugs can often face significant barriers to treatment and even health services for infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Meanwhile, drug traffickers continue to prey on drug users, rapidly escalating the production of dangerous, highly addictive synthetic drugs.”
Guterres also emphasized that governments uphold the human rights of people who use drugs, including by expanding prevention and treatment programs and health services. It means protecting people and communities alike by ending impunity for drug traffickers profiting from people's pain.
Citing an example of his steps as the prime minister of Portugal, the UN chief said: “We implemented non-criminal responses to drug possession for personal use, while cracking down on traffickers and re-allocating resources to prevention, treatment and harm-reduction measures.
“As a result, drug consumption and associated infectious disease rates plummeted, more drugs were seized by police and customs, and — most importantly — lives were saved. Today, Portugal has one of Europe's lowest overdose and death rates from drug use.”
In Bangladesh, over 80% of drug users are young people, including women, while a large part of the children living in slums and streets are trapped in the clutches of drug addiction, with Dhaka and Chittagong divisions holding the top positions.
The drugs that are widely consumed in Bangladesh and often seized by the authorities include the now-popular crystal meth, also known as Ice, cocaine and LSD, Yaba pills, heroin, alcohol, phensedyl, cannabis, injecting drugs, sleeping pills and pain killers, and Dandy gum.
Since 2010, the number of drug-related cases and accused in Bangladesh has risen sharply every year—from 29,662 and 37,508 respectively to 100,321 and 124,775 in 2022.
Reports of arrests and seizures alongside deaths and clashes over drug peddling and harassment of drug users are commonplace in the country. However, the trial proceedings are lengthy, and in many cases, the drug lords and small peddlers get acquitted taking advantage of loopholes, experts say.
