100,000 people involved in illegal drug trade in Bangladesh

About 100,000 people, including 30,000 women and children, are involved in illegal drug trade in Bangladesh, the country's Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) said Wednesday. 

"It is unfortunate for us that we have failed to control the use of narcotics," DNC director general (DG) Humayun Kabir told reporters Wednesday, on the eve of the globally observed anti-drugs day on June 26. 

Drug addicts spend at least 460 million taka (about 6.57 million U.S. dollars) on narcotics every day, leading English newspaper The Financial Express reported Thursday quoting the DNC DG. 

Kabir said there was no specific government data on the number of drug addicts or drug use in the country. 

A private organization carried out a survey in 2004 and found there were some 4.6 million drug addicts in the country. No such survey has been done since, "but a drug addict spends at least 100taka every day," Kabir said. 

Heroin is the most widely abused hard drug and around 75 percent of the addicts are 15-30 years old, he said. 

"We have to increase public awareness about the harmful effect of illegal drugs, and build up social resistance against its use," he said.