Dispatches International
stances? “Drugs are sold in differ- ent places of Chittagong. I used to collect them especially from Ka- damtoli (a poor neighborhood in Chittagong), near my home Bako- lia,” Alam explains, clearly speak- ing from multiple experiences. “There are various spots to
buy drugs.” The cheapest drugs are sold in slums. Alam, along with his more experienced friends, used to go to the slums of Kadamtoli and purchase drugs from suppliers. Among the drug suppliers, some sell drugs to earn money while oth- ers view the business as a kind of hobby.
Other than the slums, there
are commonly known places inside schools and universities where drugs are openly traded, sometimes at a premium. Drugs are even sold openly at the University of Dhaka, the most prestigious university of Bangladesh, where only the most talented students of the country have the opportunity to study. Tuhin, the student at the
University of Dhaka, says that there are two places inside the university where drugs are known to be sold. He refers to the drug market in- side university as “an open secret.” Every student of the university is aware that the drug trade is hap- pening, but no one is interested in confronting the issue. No one is ready to take the
initiative to stop the source of ad- diction among their fellow class- mates. Tuhin candidly says that he would be wasting his time if he interfered in the drug market. “I
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can raise my voice, but my voice will not be big enough to reach ev- eryone.” Omar Faruque is a friend of
Tuhin and a student at the Depart- ment of English. He tries to justify his friend’s answer about why their voices would not be strong enough to stop the exchange and consump- tion of drugs at the University of Dhaka. “Needs of political leaders and groups are the reason. Politi- cal power is an important factor in this area. Political leaders can eas- ily control the drug addiction.” But, according to Faruque, instead of stopping the trafficking of drugs, political leaders are leading the drug trade. “It is an open secret that the
university campus is used by the drug traders,” conscious of the in- tensity of his allegations, Faruque continues explaining the structure of the market for drugs. “Most of the people who supply drugs are po- litical leaders and businessman un- der the board of political parties.” He adds that if some students were to try to raise their voices against the trade, their voices would be dwindled by the political leaders using violence against them. Faruque exposes the fact that
even police cannot stop the drug trade as they are also controlled by the political leaders. “If we inform the police about drugs, politicians get involved and then the police can’t do anything.” Therefore, the students consider the situation of drug addiction inside the Uni- versity of Dhaka as a “dangerous
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