ASA University Review, Vol. 9 No. 2, July–December, 2015 Social Bonding and Drug Addiction: A Study on the Street Children in Dhaka City Mohammad Imam Hossain * Ziauddin Ahmed ** Abstract A large number of the street children in Dhaka city are addicted to drugs. Various socioeconomic factors contribute to drug usage among street children. Drug abuse directly influences the physical and socio-behaviourial problem of children and affects the economic and social aspects of a society as well as a country. This paper examines whether there is any relation between social bonding and drug addiction. The role of the state and society are also analyzed. In this paper primary data are collected by interview with a semi-structured questionnaire. Secondary sources are UN publications, Government documents and reports, review of newspaper reports as well as related books and journal articles. This paper progresses with content analysis through contemporary literature review analysis and finally conclusion. Role of social bonding in controlling of drug abuse and reason of drug addiction are also discussed here in the light of interview. This paper also argues that about 53 percent street children of Dhaka city are addicted to drugs as they are separated from family and social bondage. This asserts that, the children separated from social bondage are vulnerable to drug addiction than the children who are in social bondage. Keywords: Social Bonding, Drug Addiction, Age, Push factors, Key actor. Introduction The Asia-Pacific region is home to nearly 50% of the world’s children, including large numbers of street-children. In Bangladesh, about 42 million people (32.2% of the total population) are children age 5-17 years. In Dhaka city their numbers are increasing, there are an estimated two million street-children. According to the 1989 International Convention on the Rights of the Child, every person aged up to 18 years is considered a child (Uddin, 2011). Now, the Drug addiction of street children of Dhaka city and its effect address public tension within the national territory. In Bangladesh, it appears to be a major social, economic and development issue. Dhaka is one of the highest populous and still one of the greatest cities of Bangladesh. This mega city is the most crime-prone city of the country and children of this city are not safe from drug addiction vulnerability. Family bonding is the bedrock of the relationship between parents and children (Kosterman et al., 2001). Scholars opine that, parental monitoring and supervision are critical for drug abuse prevention (NIH, 2003). Drug use and abuse is growing and crosses all social strata; Yaba, * Senior Lecturer, Department of Law, ASA University Bangladesh ** Sr. Assistant Secretary, ICT Division, Ministry of ICT, Bangladesh