High number of capital’s children high on glue

With roughly cropped hair and dressed in a dirty torn cloths, a teenager boy of about 15 years is found busy in sniffing glue along a roadside traffic signal of 6th Road, Rawalpindi without any fear of the authorities.

Dressed in a sullied ‘shalwar kameez’ that has turned blackish, he seems ill and weak. In the evenings, he can be seen sniffing glue by the roadside, but nobody gives him second look.

Glue sniffing is considered the most popular form of addiction after tobacco and alcohol. Its use is becoming increasingly common in children in Rawalpindi and Islamabad because of the absence of any comprehensive mechanism for dealing with the dilemma.

A non-governmental organisation Azad Foundation has reported that there are over 30,000 children addicted to glue sniffing in Pakistan but police, social welfare department and other agencies have done nothing for the runaway children.

A Rawalpindi police station spokesperson has reportedly said that it is true that “we have no data on the extent of problem”.

He said that children are found busy sniffing glue at commercial market and cantonment area but added that “we cannot do anything in this matter; they are granted bail from court because of their age”.

It has been learnt that glue is preferred because it is cheap, its effects are long-lasting and its withdrawal symptoms are mild .Therefore the number of glue sniffers is increasing with every passing day.

So far, there is no law in the country against glue sniffing. It is legal for everyone including children to buy glue from the market. NGOs are also just claiming for protecting rights of children and running projects of awareness instead of educating these children.

Most NGO representatives are of the view that they have limited resources and cannot run rehabilitation center for street children.

According to them, it is the government’s responsibility to make laws to address these children’s issues.

“The main problem is that there are no rehabilitation centers that will encourage children to completely kick the deadly habit. Government must establish rehabilitation centers where cured addicts can stay for a while after their treatment is complete,” said a representative of Society For Protection of Rights of Children.