OLD OR YOUNG DRUGS A THREAT TO WHOLE SOCIETY

Kathmandu - Drugs do not spare anybody. Although it is widely
perceived that only youngsters indulge in drugs, people who have been
constantly monitoring cases of abuse revealed Tuesday that even
doctors, engineers, armies and high ranking civil servants are
resorting to drugs to free themselves from depression.

It all starts normally. People in the above categories take drugs at
the outset as pain alleviators, but stick to the habit and fail to
quit in the long run, said narcotic drug expert SSP Basanta Kunwar.

He said that children normally start using drugs between 14 to 16
years but it has been revealed that well established personalities in
the society are also getting addicted to drugs. The result is such
that they find it hard to cope with the situation.

Speaking at a press conference Tuesday organised by Pratigya Drug
Prevention and Rehabilitation Centre of Narconon Nepal at the
Reporters Club, SSP Kunwar said that the addiction had crept into
government officers, police, military and other fields and the
challenge rectifying the situation is increasingly becoming acute.

He said that drugs abusers were not aware about their after effects
and the pain they are subjected to when put behind the bars, so they
need counseling and education about the harmful effects of drugs.

He said that 72 per cent of the users were in the age group 14 to 16
and around 24,000 women were in drug and alcohol addiction out of
1,50,000 abusers. He said that among those drug users, 1,0700 were
school going children.

"When people start taking drugs, they start losing vitamin and
minerals from their body and they die within 10 years if they fail to
get treatment," he said.

He said there were no specific medicines for depression, but people
have failed to acknowledge this fact and fall prey to addiction once
they start using drugs.

Sharing his experiences, Dr. Dhaka Ram Lamichhane said that he was
talented since his childhood days and always came first in the class.
At that time he was unaware about drug addiction and he started
studying MBBS but he tasted marijuana in his third year course with
his friends. He started smoking and taking marijuana and that made him
addicted. Then he started to stay at Narconon Nepal and now he is okay.

"Young doctors are into drug addiction. Most doctors start taking
drugs out of curiosity to work hard for the right duty and they start
taking stimulants and that eventually turns into an addiction. Doctors
have to do night and day duty and few of them take drugs to sleep well
in the afternoon," Dr. Kunwar said.

Engineer Prasanna Rana said that he started taking drugs at the age of
29 years out of the misconception that he could work and study hard
but later it so happened that he could not do without drugs. ?I come
from a reputed Rana family, but I struggled for an identity of my own,
later everything started crumbling after I began taking drugs." Now he
is being rehabilitated at the Narconon Nepal. ?I am gradually
recovering and okay now," he said.

Both of them said that they had come forth to face the public so that
the coming generations would not repeat the mistakes that they committed.

Army officer Karan Jung Thapa said that he was fired from his job due
to his addiction. He said that he started taking drugs due to lack of
awareness. Awareness against drugs must be raised to help people come
to terms with its harmful effects, he added.

He said that many other friends who were serving the army had to face
the same fate because of their ill habits.

Major Bal Bir Thapa, a parent of an addicted son, said, "Our sons and
daughters fall prey to drug addiction due to our weakness of trying to
cover things up." He said that the government should take the initiate
to curb the drug menace.

Rijan KC and Biraj Chhetry, school students also shared their
experiences of how they began taking drugs. Now, both of them are in
the Narconon Nepal.

Among the addicted, 62 per cent of them are single child in the family
and took to drugs out of loneliness. Sixty four per cent got into the
bad habit after facing a love tragedy and 43 per cent girls resort to
drugs out of coercion from their boyfriends.

Narconon Nepal has been running a campaign "Say No to Drugs, Say Yes
to Life." It has already provided counseling to more than 400,000
students in 40 different districts.