Shamsul Haque Tuku, Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Home Affairs, has urged to introduce of dope test activities at all levels from education to employment to identify drug addicts. He said this in an interview given to GMT News24 in his office in the National Assembly on Monday afternoon.
Chairman Shamsul Haque Tuku said, the parliamentary committee wants the implementation of a zero-tolerance policy against drugs. It has been recommended to introduce dope tests at all levels to identify drug addicts. Educational institutions will also come under the dope test. Students of educational institutions or those who will take admission in university-college will also be dope tested. Besides, teachers will also come under this dope test. Government officials will be dope tested once a year. Action will be taken only if it is positive.
He said the government, realizing the horrors of drugs, has insisted on dope tests. This dope test needs to be applied at all levels. Police dope tests have started. The Prime Minister has instructed the drivers to start dope tests. In addition to this, the leaders and workers of political parties should be brought under dope test. This will reduce the demand for drugs. As a result, the entry of drugs into the country will also decrease.
About 70 to 75 lakh drug addicts are in the country. About 60 thousand crore TK’s are being wasted on drugs every year. Currently, the number of drug addicts among children and women is increasing. Yaba, in particular, is now taking girls in stride. Two hundred parents have been killed due to drug addiction in the last ten years. Two-thirds of drug addicts in the country are young.
Shamsul Haque Tuku said the allegations of drug use against public transport drivers are long-standing. Not only that but sexual harassment or rape also happens on the bus almost all the time. However, the drivers have been asked to dope test to get rid of those allegations. Realizing the horrors of drugs, the government has insisted on dope tests.
He further said that for admission to the university, the admission test and a medical test should be conducted to see if any of the candidates is addicted to drugs. Starting from the chairman of the University Grants Commission, various government agencies also think it will give a positive result to stop the spread of drugs.
In other words, the provision of dope test will be with the written test in the admission test. He said it is possible to do this while taking part in the admission test, and it will not be tough to manage.
Former state minister for home affairs Shamsul Haque Tuku said he first applied the test to a BCL conference in his constituency of Pabna on April 18, 2010.
“We arranged for dope tests to take the conference leadership candidates to the hospital. Because the leaders would have to be honest and healthy, one-third of these service tests tested positive.”
However, the impact has been widespread, and he said, “A few days ago, the same test was arranged at the conference of the Jubo League, but none of them got positive.”
Tuku said that realizing the horrors of drugs, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared war on drugs. Everyone must work together to stop drug aggression, regardless of party affiliation.
