This article appeared in today’s Dawn……
Glue sniffing growing menace
By Asif Shahzad
Link: http://www.dawn.com/2000/06/27/nat12.htm
I am cutpasting the Article in its entirety here, and following that are my comments:
LAHORE, June 26: Glue sniffing is becoming increasingly common in children. Most of them are runaway children who are victims of official apathy. Police, the social welfare department and other agencies have done nothing for the runaway children. No department has any record of the nature and extent of the problem.
When a man claimed last year that he had killed 100 runaway children, the Punjab government established three counters in the city to help such boys and their parents. However, no proper record is being maintained by these counters and they have not been given enough facilities including proper staff. For all practical purposes the counters are virtually non-existent.
Children can be seen sniffing glue by the roadside. Nobody gives them a second look. Royal Park, Laxmi Chowk, McLeod Road, Australia Chowk, Mozang Chungi, Ichhra, Samanabad and Iqbal Town are their favourite haunts.
The children buy a tube or a bottle of glue for anything between Rs 12 and Rs 25 after pooling money. Then they sit in groups of four to five and the sniffing session begins. They pour the glue on a piece of cloth and roll it into a ball.
They then hold this ball to their noses or on their mouths. They sniff the glue and also inhale it. They keep the ball on their mouths for two to four hours while working, walking or sitting somewhere.
These children are workers, beggars and even petty thieves. They start their day with a pre-work sniffing session. Most of them wash cars on roads or are employed by roadside teastalls. And those who do not work spend their time roaming around, roads, streets, having a dip in the canal or watching movies in city cinemas where they are probably let in free of cost.
They are called Kangle (the down-and-outs). Their first sniffing session begins at Royal Park. Then they move towards Laxmi Chowk and the Garhi Shahu Chowk for begging and breakfast. They go to the Lahore Canal at noon or take a nap in a park near Australia Chowk close to the railway station. They are seen in Garhi Shahu or Laxmi Chowk on sniffing sessions only in the evenings and at night.
One of them, Abid Ali, told Dawn that he belonged to Kasur. He is only 12. He said that he left home some four months ago. Now all roads and streets were home for him. Abid is the third among four brothers and two sisters. "None of us ever went to school. Father works as vendor and hardly makes enough money to make ends meet."
Another boy, Sher Bahadur Shah, 13, belongs to Mughalpura. He says that he and his elder brother work in different localities of the city and make money which just enough for them. "I have not visited my family for a month," he says.
Mota Faisalabadi is apparently the ring-leader of seven glue-sniffers. He does not answer any question but keeps on murmuring. Some glue-sniffers said that Mota put them on to it.
Prolonged addiction can impair a glue-sniffer's comprehension. Many like Mota Faisalabadi could not understand the questions put to them. Their mouths are ringed by froth and their noses begin to run when they try to speak.
Then there is the dreadful possibility that these luckless glue-sniffers might take to heroin -- the killer drug is openly available at almost all places they visit frequent.
Unfortunately, the problem has never been discussed at any level at all.
However, the ANF regional director told Dawn that he knew that the problem existed though nothing had been done so far to probe into. Glue-sniffing was common even in Britain, he said.
"We are arranging a chemical examination of the glue. Glue manufacturers will also be directed to send in details about the ingredients of the glue to us. Furthermore, one glue-sniffer will be taken as a sample. We will have him medically, socially, and psychologically examined," he said. <<<<<<<
--------------------------------
This phenomenon is pretty recent and it is just a sample of things to come. Most of such social ailments in our society are a result of years of neglect. These kids should be in schools and not sniffing glue (also called Volatile Substance Abuse). This type of addiction has existed in Europe and in the Far East for some 20 years or so, but in Pakistan, it is a fairly recent phenomenon. The affects of glue sniffing on children can be devastating, ranging from memory loss to as serious as heart ailments.
The Government of Pakistan needs to keep this menace under control before it turns into a problem the size of Illicit Drug Addiction, in which there are over 4 Million addicts and Pakistan now leads the world in Heroin addiction.
Glue sniffing growing menace
By Asif Shahzad
Link: http://www.dawn.com/2000/06/27/nat12.htm
I am cutpasting the Article in its entirety here, and following that are my comments:
LAHORE, June 26: Glue sniffing is becoming increasingly common in children. Most of them are runaway children who are victims of official apathy. Police, the social welfare department and other agencies have done nothing for the runaway children. No department has any record of the nature and extent of the problem.
When a man claimed last year that he had killed 100 runaway children, the Punjab government established three counters in the city to help such boys and their parents. However, no proper record is being maintained by these counters and they have not been given enough facilities including proper staff. For all practical purposes the counters are virtually non-existent.
Children can be seen sniffing glue by the roadside. Nobody gives them a second look. Royal Park, Laxmi Chowk, McLeod Road, Australia Chowk, Mozang Chungi, Ichhra, Samanabad and Iqbal Town are their favourite haunts.
The children buy a tube or a bottle of glue for anything between Rs 12 and Rs 25 after pooling money. Then they sit in groups of four to five and the sniffing session begins. They pour the glue on a piece of cloth and roll it into a ball.
They then hold this ball to their noses or on their mouths. They sniff the glue and also inhale it. They keep the ball on their mouths for two to four hours while working, walking or sitting somewhere.
These children are workers, beggars and even petty thieves. They start their day with a pre-work sniffing session. Most of them wash cars on roads or are employed by roadside teastalls. And those who do not work spend their time roaming around, roads, streets, having a dip in the canal or watching movies in city cinemas where they are probably let in free of cost.
They are called Kangle (the down-and-outs). Their first sniffing session begins at Royal Park. Then they move towards Laxmi Chowk and the Garhi Shahu Chowk for begging and breakfast. They go to the Lahore Canal at noon or take a nap in a park near Australia Chowk close to the railway station. They are seen in Garhi Shahu or Laxmi Chowk on sniffing sessions only in the evenings and at night.
One of them, Abid Ali, told Dawn that he belonged to Kasur. He is only 12. He said that he left home some four months ago. Now all roads and streets were home for him. Abid is the third among four brothers and two sisters. "None of us ever went to school. Father works as vendor and hardly makes enough money to make ends meet."
Another boy, Sher Bahadur Shah, 13, belongs to Mughalpura. He says that he and his elder brother work in different localities of the city and make money which just enough for them. "I have not visited my family for a month," he says.
Mota Faisalabadi is apparently the ring-leader of seven glue-sniffers. He does not answer any question but keeps on murmuring. Some glue-sniffers said that Mota put them on to it.
Prolonged addiction can impair a glue-sniffer's comprehension. Many like Mota Faisalabadi could not understand the questions put to them. Their mouths are ringed by froth and their noses begin to run when they try to speak.
Then there is the dreadful possibility that these luckless glue-sniffers might take to heroin -- the killer drug is openly available at almost all places they visit frequent.
Unfortunately, the problem has never been discussed at any level at all.
However, the ANF regional director told Dawn that he knew that the problem existed though nothing had been done so far to probe into. Glue-sniffing was common even in Britain, he said.
"We are arranging a chemical examination of the glue. Glue manufacturers will also be directed to send in details about the ingredients of the glue to us. Furthermore, one glue-sniffer will be taken as a sample. We will have him medically, socially, and psychologically examined," he said. <<<<<<<
--------------------------------
This phenomenon is pretty recent and it is just a sample of things to come. Most of such social ailments in our society are a result of years of neglect. These kids should be in schools and not sniffing glue (also called Volatile Substance Abuse). This type of addiction has existed in Europe and in the Far East for some 20 years or so, but in Pakistan, it is a fairly recent phenomenon. The affects of glue sniffing on children can be devastating, ranging from memory loss to as serious as heart ailments.
The Government of Pakistan needs to keep this menace under control before it turns into a problem the size of Illicit Drug Addiction, in which there are over 4 Million addicts and Pakistan now leads the world in Heroin addiction.
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