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Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

21 

 

Drug abuse and drug addiction among students of University of Rajshahi 

 
Faiqua Tahjiba 

LLB (Hons.) 2nd Year Student 

University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh 

E-mail: tfaiqua18@gmail.com    

 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3329/bioethics.v11i3.50595    

 

Abstract: Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the actual condition of the students of 

University of Rajshahi (RU) regarding drug abuse and addiction. Using case study method the research was 

conducted with four objectives: (a) to find out how respondents began drug abuse; (b) to discover the causes 

of their drug addiction; (c) to understand the process of their drug abuse; and (d) to find out the economic, 

social and health effects of drug abuse. Methods: Case study method was used in this research. Through 

snowball sampling 18 drug- addicted students of RU were selected as respondents. In-depth interview with 

a schedule was used to collect data from the respondents in January 2019. Results: Findings of the study 

show that the causes of drug addiction included curiosity, frustration, friends’ request, neglect from family 

and friends etc. The drugs which they usually abused were Yaba, Phensydyle, Ganja (Weed), Chuani etc. 

Their average monthly expenditure for collecting drugs was in between Taka 8,000-10,000. They collected 

those drugs from rickshaw pullers at different points within the campus and from Mizaner Mor, Budhpara 

slum and other places outside the campus. The respondents opined that drugs were available if sufficient 

money could be spent. The respondents had senior and junior fellow students and local boys as companions 

while taking drugs. Most of them faced physical problems after taking drugs, and some of them tried to get 

rid of this curse of drug addiction. Conclusion: The findings of this research show that the rate of drug 

addiction among the students of RU was quite alarming. Therefore, all stakeholders including the students, 

guardians, teachers, university authority, the law makers and law enforcing agencies, researchers, civil 

society, NGO’s and the state must come forward together to combat this formidable foe. 

 

Key Words: Drug, Drug abuse, Drug addiction, University of Rajshahi, Awareness 

 

(Some part of this article presented at the 20th Asian Bioethics Conference, 22-25 November 2019, Dhaka, 

Bangladesh).

Background: Addiction is a disease that 

affects brain and behavior of a person. When 

people become addicted to drugs, they cannot 

resist the urge to use them, no matter how 

much harm the drugs may cause. Drug abuse 

occurs when a person uses legal or illegal 

substances in the ways he shouldn't. 

Addiction refers to that stage when he cannot 

stop taking those substances.  

Students who are addicted to drugs and abuse 

those substances cause great harm to 

themselves and also to the society.  



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

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There are some specific Acts passed in 

Bangladesh in order to control the abuse of 

drugs. The Drugs Act, 1940 is one of those. The 

main objective of this Act is to regulate the 

import, export, manufacture, distribution and 

sale of drugs1. According to section 37 of this 

Act, any person who does not sell the patent or 

proprietary medicines or pharmaceutical 

specialties according to this Act and sell drugs 

in public street etc. shall be punishable with 

imprisonment which may extend to two years, 

or with fine, or with both. 

The Drugs (Control) Ordinance, 1982 is an 

ordinance, which was declared in order to 

control, manufacture, import, distribution 

and sale of drugs2. Recently, Narcotics 

Control Bill, 2018 has been passed in 

parliament. This bill has been passed with a 

provision of death sentence or life 

imprisonment as punishment for producing, 

trading and using 200 grams or more ‘yaba’ 

or more than 25 grams of ‘heroin’ and 

‘cocaine’.  If a person carries, trades, stores 

or processes ‘yaba’ weighing less than five 

grams, he or she could be sentenced to five 

years in jail and fined. One could be 

sentenced to death for carrying, trading, 

storing or processing ‘yaba’ weighing over 

five grams according to this bill. People in 

possession of less than 25 grams of ‘heroin’ 

and ‘cocaine’ could be punished with two to 

ten years’ imprisonment. If they have more 

than 25 grams, the punishment could be death 

or life imprisonment. In the existing law, 

there is no provision for death sentence or life 

imprisonment for offences related to heroin 

and cocaine. The maximum punishment is 15 

years3. 

In spite of these Acts and the punishments for 

the offence of drug abuse, the threat of drug 

addiction is spreading all over the country 

day by day. Peace and tranquility of the 

society is hampering greatly by the curse of 

drug. Students, as well as people of ages and 

classes are facing the adverse situation.  

This research tried to find out drug abuse and 

drug addiction among the students of 

Rajshahi University. 

Definition of Terms:  

Drug: Drug is a medicine or other substance 

which has a physiological effect when 

ingested or otherwise introduced into the 

body. The Drugs Act,1940 gives the 

definition of drug. In this Act, unless there is 

anything repugnant in the subject or context  

(a) “the Board” means the Drugs Technical 

Advisory Board constituted under section 5; 

(b) “drug” includes-(i) all medicines for 

internal or external use of human beings or 

animals, and all substances intended to be 

used for or in the treatment, mitigation or 

prevention of diseases in human beings or 

animals, not being medicines and substances 

exclusively used or prepared for use in 

accordance with the ayurvedic, unani, 

homoeopathic or biochemical system of 

medicine, (ii) diagnostic, abortive and 

contraceptive substances, surgical ligatures, 

sutures, bandages, absorbent cotton, 

bacteriophages, adhesive plasters, gelatin 

capsules and antiseptic solutions, (iii) such 

substances (other than food) intended to 

affect the structure or any function of the 

human body or intended to be used for the 

destruction of varmints or insects which 

cause disease in human beings or animals, 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

23 

 

(iv) any substance, mentioned as monograph 

in any of the editions of the British 

Pharmacopoeia or the British Pharmaceutical 

Codex or the United States Pharmacopoeia or 

the National Formulary of the United States 

or the International Pharmacopoeia, whether 

alone or in combination with any substance 

exclusively used in the unani, ayurvedic, 

homoeopathic or biochemical system of 

medicine and intended to be used for any of 

the purposes mentioned in sub clauses (i), (ii) 

and (iii), and (v) any other substance which 

the Government may, by notification in the 

official Gazette, declare to be a “drug” for the 

purposes of this Act. 

Drug Abuse: Drug abuse refers to the use of 

certain chemicals for the purpose of creating 

pleasurable effects on the brain.4 Drug 

Addiction: Addiction is defined as a chronic 

relapsing disorder characterized by 

compulsive drug seeking and use despite 

adverse consequences. It is considered as a 

brain disorder because it involves functional 

changes to brain circuits involved in reward, 

stress and self-control and those changes may 

last a long time after a person has stopped 

taking drugs5. 

  

Review of Literature: As far as I have gone 

through, there has not been any research 

conducted specifically relating to drug 

addiction and its abuses at University of 

Rajshahi. However, findings of the studies 

that I have found to be concerned with the 

present study in one way or another are 

summarized below: 

 

The Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage 

(Control) Act, 2005, as amended by the 

Smoking and Tobacco Products Usage 

(Control) (Amendment) Act, 2013, is the 

principal law governing tobacco control in 

Bangladesh. The Act is comprehensive and 

covers smoke free policies; tobacco 

advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and 

packaging and labeling of tobacco products, 

among other areas. The Smoking and 

Tobacco Products Usage (Control) Rules, 

2015 are the implementing rules of the Act 

and provide further details regarding many 

provisions of the law6. 

 

Chloe C.Y. Wong, Jonathan Mill and Cathy 

Fernandes in their article “Drugs and 

Addiction: An Introduction to Epigenetics” 

defined addiction as a deliberating 

psychiatric disorder, with a complex etiology 

involving the interaction of inherited 

predispositions and environmental factors. In 

this article the authors discussed various 

drugs of abuse7. 

 

In her book Like a Diamond in the Sky, 

explored the reasons for which the youth in 

Bangladesh are feeling alienated. She also 

tried to find out the factors that led to their 

addiction and drew a picture of how they 

were constantly blamed by the government, 

parents and friends, which make the addicted 

person more frustrated8. 

 

 In the book of Anxiolytic Drugs: 

Dependence, Addiction and Abuse, showed 

the abuse of benzodiazepined and 

flunitrazepam as drugs in the UK. He showed 

that the main cause of taking those drugs 

regularly in high doses was physical 

dependence as manifested by a withdrawal 

syndrome on discontinuation of the drug9.  



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

24 

 

 

Harris Isbell and HF Frazer pointed out the 

causes of drug addiction, such as, personality 

disorder, frustration, curiosity and crave for 

pleasurable feeling in mind. He also noted 

that physical dependence is not entirely due 

to the changes in the autonomic nervous 

system10. 

 

Mark A.R. Kleiman, Jonathan P. Caulkins 

and Angela Hawke in their book Drugs and 

Drug Policy: What Everyone Need to Know 

pointed out the relationship between drugs 

and crimes. According to the authors drugs 

lead people to commit crime because: 

1. drug use makes them act irrationally; 

2. they need money to buy drugs; and 

3. because they get involved in the 

violence that surrounds the business 

of producing and dealing in drugs.11  

 

Marina Barnard in her book titled Drug 

Addiction and Families records the effects of 

drug use on family dynamics and relationship 

including possible social and emotional 

costs. Its impact on the physical and mental 

health is also discussed12. 

 

Robert T. Ammerman, Peggy J. Ott, Ralph E. 

Torter  in the book Prevention and Societal 

Impact of Drug and Alcohol Abuse brought 

substance use and abuse at the forefront of the 

social problems. They also paid attention to 

the progress that has been made in 

explicating the impact and consequences of 

the substance use and abuse13. 

 

M. Hepburn in “Drugs of Addiction” 

identified the increase of drug addiction 

among young women in Britain. He also 

highlighted the problem of drug abuse during 

pregnancy14. 

 

L. Kovatsi, D. et al. in the article ‘Drugs of 

Abuse: Epigenetic and Mechanisms in 

Toxicity and Addiction’ discussed the abuse 

of substances such as ethanol, cocaine, 

heroin, and the toxic effects of these drugs on 

almost every system of the organism. They 

also identified the lacking remaining in the 

strategies to decrease the toxicity of these 

drugs on human body15.  

The edited book titled Drugs and Youth: The 

Challenge of Today by Ernest Harms took 

note of the increase in the use of drugs by 

teenagers during the 1950s. He unearthed 

some unknown facts on the issue and 

considering its magnitude proposed to call it 

an ‘epidemic’16. 

 

Research Gap: From the review of literature 

by the researcher, it is found that the concept 

of the actual condition of drug addiction 

among the students of Rajshahi University is 

missing. The researcher found out this gap 

and tried to explore the cause of drug 

addiction of the students of RU, the 

percentage of the addicted students, their 

level of addiction and also the awareness of 

the administration or RU in this regard. 

Mainly, the limited information on the 

addicted students of RU is the research gap in 

this study. 
 

Research Questions:  

1. How do the students become drug addicts? 

2. What are the causes of their drug 

addiction?  

3. Who are the suppliers? Are they students 

of RU or not?  



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

25 

 

4. What are the harmful effects they are 

facing after becoming drug addicts? 

5. Is the administration of RU concerned 

enough about drug abuse? 

Objectives 

1. To find out how the respondents began 

drug abuse; 
2. To discover the causes of their drug 

addiction; 

3. To understand the process of drug abuse; 
4. To find out the economic, social and 

health effects of drug abuse.  
 

Methodology: Case Study was the method 

used for this study. The study locale was the 

University of Rajshahi (RU). The students of 

RU were the population of this research. The 

total number of the students studying at RU 

is around 37,000. Among them 18 drug 

addicted students, who agreed to participate 

in this study were selected as respondents. 

Case study method was used in this research. 

Through snowball sampling 18 drug- 

addicted students of RU were selected as 

respondents. All of the respondents were 

male. The researcher was not able to find any 

female drug addicted student who agreed to 

take part in the study as a respondent.        

 

 Type of the Research: The research is 

qualitative in nature. Data have been 

collected from 18 drug addicted students 

through in-depth interview. 

 

Sources of Data: The sources from which 

data have been collected can be classified 

into two types-- primary and secondary. 

 

Primary Sources: The data and information 

about the abuses of drug in RU, directly 

collected from respondents are the primary 

data used in this research.      

 

Secondary Sources: The data and information 

which were collected from books, articles, 

study reports etc. are the secondary data 

collected for this research. The researcher 

used various information provided in many 

books articles, records etc. 

 

Sampling Design: It is not easy to reach drug 

addicted students and to convince them to 

participate as a respondent in a research. 

Snowball sampling was used to select the 

respondents for this study. In snowball 

sampling the researcher gathers information 

the information given by the first few 

respondents the researcher succeeded in 

collecting data from 18 drug addicted 

students of University of Rajshahi. She took 

information from only those who were 

willing to be respondents for this research. In 

this manner the researcher was able to collect 

data from 18 students. 

 

Data Collection Method: In-depth interview 

using a schedule was employed to collect 

data from the respondents in January 2019. 

 

Data processing and analysis: The data were 

processed manually and simple statistics e.g. 

frequency distributions and percentages were 

used to analyze data. 

 

Research Findings: In this section data 

collected from the students of RU are 

presented using simple statistical tools e.g., 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

26 

 

frequency distribution and measures of 

central tendency.  
Information presented in this section has 

been collected from the addicted students, 

who were 18 in number. 

 

Most of the respondents had a single earning 

member in their families (n=8, 44%). Thirty- 

three per cent of the respondents had 2 

earning family members while 17 per cent of 

them had 3 earning members in their 

families. Only 5 per cent of the respondents 

had more than 3 earning members in their 

families (Table 3.1). 

 

Table 3.1: Number of Earning Members of 

Family 

Number of 

Earning 

Members 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

1 8 44 

2 6 33 

3 3 17 

More than 3 1 5 

Total 18 100 

 

Table 3.2: Whether the Respondents have 

their Own Earnings or not 

Whether the 

Respondents 

have their Own 

Earnings or not 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 5 28 

No 13 72 

Total 18 100 

 

Among the respondents, 72% didn’t have any 

source of income of their own. Twenty-eight 

percent of them had their own sources of 

income (Table 3.2). 

 

Most of the respondents (78%) opined that 

the earning of their family members was 

enough to meet up their necessities. But 22% 

of them told that the earning of their family 

members was not enough to satisfy their 

needs (Table 3.3). 

 

Table 3.3: Whether the Earning of the Family 

Members of the Respondents is Enough to 

meet up their Needs 

Whether the 

earning of the 

family members 

of the 

respondents is 

enough to meet 

up their needs 

 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 14 78 

No 4 22 

Total 18 100 

 

Table 3.4: Satisfaction of the Respondents 

regarding their Academic Results 

Satisfied or 

Not 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 6 33 

No 12 67 

Total 18 100 

  

Thirty-three percent of the respondents were 

satisfied with their academic results. But 

Most of them, about 67% were not satisfied 

with it (Table 3.4). 

 

Table 3.5: Opportunities for Sufficient 

Recreation 

Gets enough 

opportunity 

for recreation 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 5 28 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

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No 13 72 

Total 18 100 

 

Most of the students opined that they did not 

get proper opportunities for recreation (72%). 

Twenty-two percent of them said that they 

got enough scope for recreation (Table 3.5). 

The respondents consumed different types of 

drugs. All of them consumed Ganja. Yaba 

was consumed by 15 (83%) drug users. They 

also consumed local liquor which was also 

called as ‘chuani’ (n=14, 78%) and 

phensydyle (n=16, 89%) as drugs. Eleven 

percent of the respondents used other drugs 

(Table 3.6). 

 

Of the respondents, 67% collected their drug 

materials within RU campus and 89% of 

them collected those from outside of the 

campus(3.7). 

 

Table 3.6: Names of Drugs Consumed by 

Respondents 

Names of 

Drugs 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yaba 15 83 

Ganja 18 100 

Local Liquor 

(chuani)  

14 78 

Phensydyle  16 89 

Others 02 11 

(Multiple response) 

  

Table 3.7: Place of Collecting/Buying 

Drugs 

Places No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Within RU 

campus 

12 67 

Outside 

RU 

campus 

16 89 

(Multiple Response) 

 

Among the respondents, 67% bought drugs 

from other drug addicted students. Fifty 

percent of them collected drug from the tea 

and cigarette sellers. Eighty three percent of 

the respondents bought drugs from rickshaw 

pullers and 89% of them managed the drugs 

from the outsiders (Table 3.8). 

 

Table 3.8: Drug Selling Agents 

Agents No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Drug 

addicted 

students 

12 67 

Tea and 

cigarette 

sellers 

09 50 

Rickshaw 

Puller 

15 83 

Outsiders 16 89 

(Multiple Response) 

 

Table 3.9: Availability of Drugs 

Availability of 

Drugs 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 14 78 

No 3 17 

No Response 1 6 

Total 18 100 

 

Among the respondents, 78% thought that 

drugs which are consumed by them were 

sufficiently available. Seventeen percent of 

them opined that those were not always 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

28 

 

available. Six percent of the respondents did 

not answer this question (Table 3.9). 

 

Of the 100 respondents, 5% opined that their 

monthly expenditure of money for drugs was 

less than 5000 Taka. Fifty percent of them 

told that the amount was around 5000-10000 

Taka on their part. Forty four percent of the 

respondents answered that their expenditure 

was more than 10000 Taka per month for the 

purpose of drugs (Table 3.10). 

 

Table 3.10: Amount of Money Spent for 

Drug Consumption (per Month) 

Amount of 

Money 

(Taka) 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

<5000 1 5 

5000-

10000 

9 50 

>10000 8 44 

Total 18 100 

 

Table 3.11: Availability of Drugs at 

Residential Halls for Students 

Availability of 

Drugs at 

Students’ 

Halls 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Easily 

Available 

8 44 

More or Less 

Available 

6 33 

Scarcely 

Available 

4 22 

Total 18 100 

 

Among the respondents, 44% thought that 

drugs were ‘easily available’ at the students’ 

halls of RU. Thirty three percent of the 

respondents thought that the drugs were 

‘more or less’ available at the halls. Twenty 

two percent of the respondents opined that 

drugs are ‘scarcely’ available at the halls 

(Table 3.11).  

 

 

 

 

 

Table 3.12: Whether Wants to Come Out of 

Drug Addiction 

Whether Wants to 

Come Out of 

Drug Addiction 

No. of 

Respondents 

Percent 

Yes 15 83 

No 3 17 

No Response 00 00 

Total 18 100 

 

Among the respondents, 83% expressed their 

willingness to come out of drug addiction. 

Seventeen percent of them were not willing 

to come out from this curse (Table 3.12).   

 

On the question whether the respondents took 

drugs alone or in a group, 25% stated that 

they took drugs alone. Fifty three percent of 

the respondents opined that they maintained 

groups while taking drugs. Twenty two 

percent of them remained silent. 

 

As regards the question about the group 

members of the addicted students, 58% 

answered that they were their university 

friends, 33% said that the group members 

were their roommates, 18% opined that they 

were their seniors of the university. In the 

opinion of 7% of the respondents, their 

companions were their juniors and 24% 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

29 

 

expressed that the group members were their 

local friends. 

 

While answering the question on their 

sources of earning which they used for 

collecting drugs, 28% opined that they earned 

that money by themselves and 72% said that 

the money came from their family or other 

sources. 

 

Of the 18 respondents, 56% opined that they 

faced physical complicacy after being 

addicted to drugs. Twenty two percent of 

them said that they did not face any physical 

difficulties and another 22% of the 

respondents remained silent in this regard. 

 

Among the respondents, 36% informed that 

they were involved in other illegal activities 

after becoming addicted to drugs. Sixty four 

percent of the respondents responded that 

they were not involved in any such activities. 

 

Among the respondents, 15% informed that 

their families were informed about their 

addiction to drugs. Sixty seven percent of 

them said that their families were not 

informed about this and 18% of them did not 

answer this question. 

 

On the question, whether the respondents 

have taken any steps to come out from drug 

addiction, 27% replied in the affirmative, 

51% replied in the negative and 22% of them 

remained silent. 

 

Case Studies: This section presents five 

cases of drug addiction using pseudonyms of 

respondents. The researcher interviewed in 

an in-depth manner 5 addicted respondents to 

obtain the case studies from the 18 addicted 

respondents. This interview deeply focused 

on the beginning of their drug addiction, 

reasons behind their addiction, the drugs 

which they usually take, whether there is 

specific reasons on their choosing these drugs 

or not, the places from where they collected 

these drugs, their monthly expenditure for the 

purpose of drugs, their opinions about the 

percentage of addicted students in RU and 

whether they tried to come out from the curse 

of drug or not. 

 

Case 1: Rakib Hasan (pseudonym), a 4th year 

student of University of Rajshahi, is addicted 

to drugs since the last 3 years. He started to 

take drugs through his friends and finally 

became fully addicted. He is addicted to more 

or less all kinds of drugs. But, most of the 

time, he takes yaba and phensydyle.  He has 

some specific reasons for choosing these 

drugs. He opined that, ‘yaba’ makes the body 

and mind energetic and it makes the mind 

more attentive. The body feels light after 

taking ‘Phensydyle’. He collects drugs from 

some rickshaw pullers, who pull rickshaw 

around the RU campus, the bank of the River 

Padma, various slums including the slum of 

‘Budhpara”. His expenditure in drugs is not 

the same every month. He gets this money 

from his family and other sources. His level 

of taking drug depends on his financial 

situation. Rakib thinks that at least 15% of the 

student of RU are related to drugs through 

taking or dealing in those drugs.  He didn’t 

ever try to get rid of drugs.  

 

Case 2: Nafis Ahmed (pseudonym), a 3rd 

year student of RU, has been addicted to 

drugs since last 4 years. He is involved in 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

30 

 

politics and his starting of taking drugs was 

through his political colleagues. It became 

extensive after he was admitted to RU. Now 

he takes drugs regularly. He is a chain smoker 

and he takes more or less all sorts of popular 

drugs including yaba, phensydyle and ganja.  

He thinks that drugs have different effects on 

human body and mind. And when he felt 

these types of effects by taking drugs, he 

became addicted and wanted to feel that same 

feeling again and again. He mainly collected 

drugs from the political personnel who came 

from outside the campus. He also said that 

drugs were available in ‘Budhpara’ and 

‘Mijaner Mor’. He spent about 20,000 Taka 

every month for the purpose of consuming 

drugs. He earns some money through his 

political activities and in maximum cases 

those activities were illegal. He took money 

from his family by telling lies. He used this 

money for the purpose of drugs. He thought 

that at least 8%-10% of the students of RU 

were addicted to drugs. He never tried to get 

rid of this curse of addiction. But he wants to 

recover from it. He already had to drop a year 

for the adverse effect of drug addiction. So, 

he thinks that he should   leave this addiction 

as soon as possible. 

 

Case 3: Mahin (pseudonym), a 4th year 

student of RU became addicted to drugs after 

he got admitted to the University of Rajshahi. 

He belongs to an upper class family. He 

didn’t take any drugs before. But, now he is 

fully addicted to drugs. He is also addicted to 

gambling. When he wins in gambling , he 

uses that money for the purpose of buying 

drugs. When he is defeated in gambling, he 

manages the money for drugs at any cost. He 

usually takes ‘yaba’ and ‘ganja’ as drugs. 

Together with his friends, he takes 

‘phensydyle’ and ‘chuani’. He takes these 

drugs to get the pleasant feeling derived from 

taking those. He collected these drugs from 

the other gamblers and drug addict students. 

He could easily get these drugs from them. 

His expenditure for the purpose of drug 

consumption was about 20000--25000 Taka 

per month. He has no specific idea about the 

percentage of addicted students in RU. Mahin 

never tried to get rid of the curse of this 

addiction. But he wanted to come out of it, 

though he thinks that he has to face various 

problems if he tries to do that. 

 

Case 4: Sakib (pseudonym) is a student of 3rd 

year in RU. He was a smoker from class 9. 

After being admitted to college, he started 

taking ganja. His addicted life started mainly 

after his entrance to the university. There was 

none to make him refrain from such 

activities. He started to take ‘yaba’ and 

‘ganja’. He mainly started taking drugs to 

satisfy his curiosity. Now he was used to with 

‘ganja’, ‘yaba’, ‘phensydyle’ and ‘chuani’. 

He mentioned some specific reasons for his 

choosing these drugs. After taking cigarette, 

when one takes ganja, he feels energetic. 

Yaba brings a pleasant feeling in body and it 

increases the sexual excitement of a person. 

Phensydyle makes a person more attentive to 

his works. So, Sakib has chosen these drugs. 

He collects the drugs from ‘Budhpara’, 

‘Mijaner Mor’ and various places of RU. His 

monthly expense for drugs is about 10000-

15000 Taka. He takes this money from his 

family by telling lies and sometimes he gets 

involved in ‘seat business’ in the halls of RU 

to earn money. He thought that about 10-12% 

students of RU were addicted to drugs. 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

31 

 

Sometimes, he feels that he should leave his 

addiction but he never tried to get rid of it.  

 

Case 5: Ashik (pseudonym), a 2nd year 

student of RU, became addicted to drugs after 

admitting to RU. He is involved in politics. 

He was influenced to take drugs by his 

friends. He mainly consumed ‘ganja’ and 

‘yaba’. Besides, he took ‘phensydyle’ and 

‘chuani’. He thought ganja makes the body 

feel light. Yaba makes mind and body 

refreshed and it increases attraction to the 

people of opposite sex. And so, he has to 

involve in more illegal activities. He collects 

these drugs from various places of RU and 

the rickshaw pullers help him a lot in finding 

those drugs. He does not have any specific 

rate of expense for the purpose of drugs. He 

himself was involved in dealing drugs. He 

collected drugs from drug peddlers he was 

acquainted to at a low price and sold those to 

the students at a high rate. And thus, he 

earned a lot of money. He used this money to 

buy drugs for himself. He did not have any 

specific idea about the percentage of the 

addicted students in RU. He never tried to 

come out of this curse of drug addiction.  

 

Discussion: In this research, the researcher 

found out the answers to some important 

questions about drug addiction through the 

respondents. From the information collected 

from students in general (both drug addicted 

and non-addicted) the researcher found that 

most respondents (36%) knew more than 30 

drug addicted students at RU. In response to 

the question on whether the respondents were 

smokers or not, the researcher found that, 

47% respondents were addicted to cigarette. 

Though smoking is not normally treated as a 

form of drug addiction, still it works as a 

gateway to the addicted life of the students.  

From the survey it is found that, 18% of the 

respondents were addicted to drugs. This is 

quite an alarming situation. Most of the 

addicted students took yaba, ganja, 

phensydyle and “chuani” as drugs. In 

maximum cases, university friends and local 

friends of the respondents played the 

significant role in their drug addiction. The 

main reasons for their drug addiction were 

frustration, not being satisfied with their 

academic results, family problems etc. Here, 

the researcher found that most of the drug 

addicted students collected drugs from the 

other drug addicted students of RU, rickshaw 

pullers around RU and the outsiders. Most of 

the students opined that drugs were ‘more or 

less’ available at the halls of RU. In case of 

monthly expenditure for drugs, most addicted 

students informed that the amount was within 

3000-7000 Taka. Drug addiction has brought 

about a severe harmful effect on the 

economic, social, physical and mental 

condition of the students.  

Conclusion: Findings of this research clearly 

show that drug abuse has already immerged 

as a threat among the students of RU. The 

researcher found that, drugs were quite easily 

available to the students at RU. If students 

have enough money, they can easily buy 

drugs. This availability of drugs increased the 

rate of drug addiction among the students. 

The rickshaw pullers, who pull rickshaw 

within RU campus were considered as a great 

source of drugs. They supplied drugs to the 

students of RU and gave them information 

about drugs. Sometimes, students become 

drugs dealers. They collected drugs from 

their known peddlers at a low rate and sold 



Bangladesh Journal of Bioethics 2020; 11 (3): 21-32 

32 

 

those to the other addicted students at a high 

price. Thus, they earned a lot of money by 

drug dealing and used that money for 

collecting drugs for themselves.  An alarming 

information found from the research is that 

drugs were quite easily available in the halls 

of RU. So, it is clear that the students and 

other staffs of the halls were involved in drug 

dealing. This caused high risk to the non-

addicted students, because there is every 

chance for them to become addicted. There 

are some specific places, where the addicted 

students gathered together for taking drugs. 

They chose the field of “Iblish Chattar”, roof 

top of “Shiraji Vaban”, Charukala, RU rail 

line area etc. as the perfect place for their 

consumption of drugs. Students in general 

faced awkward situations by the activities of 

the addicted students.  The availability of 

drugs in RU is increasing addiction day by 

day among the students. It is undoubtedly a 

risky condition for the safety of the students 

as well as the peaceful environment of the 

university. Drugs are being abused 

indiscriminately, therefore, all stakeholders 

including the students, guardians, teachers, 

university authority, the law makers and law 

enforcing agencies, researchers, civil society, 

NGO’s and the state must come forward 

together to combat this formidable foe. 

 

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Author Contribution: The author conceived the idea, 

did the literature review and wrote the manuscript. She 

also checked the manuscript meticulously. 

Conflict of interests: No conflict of interest in this 

study to declare. 

 

 

 

 

 

 


