NOT DOING DRUGS

Dealing with the problem of drug abuse in urban Nepal is a
challenging task. The government and non-government initiatives
directed against this social malady have yet to make a significant
dent. Over the decades since it was realized in the country, like
elsewhere, that young people could fall prey to the unscrupulous drug
dealers and into addictive habits from which it would be hard for
them to recover, Nepal has tailored and tuned up its own response to
the danger.

Awareness programmes, better laws and their strict enforcement
measures have been part of such response.

Some progress appears to have been made as a result of this. Going by
the occasional news reports about the seizure of hashish or brown
sugar, for example, it is safe to bet that law enforcement
authorities now have a better clue than before to keep vigil in
possible sites where drugs pass through.

The arrests of drug dealers and abusers hint at the fact that the
authorities are engaged in dealing with the problem. Still there is
no way to be sure that drug smuggling has gone down. Neither do we
know for sure how many young Nepalese are 'doing drugs' today.

Those who come to the rehab centres may give us some indication about
the scale of the problem and the degree of devastation wrought by
drugs on the addicts.

But this alone may not be sufficient if the authorities want to
assure the society that they have made a significant progress in
containing the malady.

When we look at drug abuse as a global problem perpetrated by mafia
networks out to wreck the health of young individuals and adults for
amassing wealth for themselves, it takes nothing more than common
sense to see why the problem lingers on in rich urban centres.

This realization, in the absence of authentic evidences to show
decline in drug smuggling and abuse, forces the society to worry that
many more youths could fall victims to illicit drugs.

In fact, the realization should send the alarm bells ringing in the
ears of us all, the parents, guardians, lawmakers and law enforcers alike.

It is everyone's duty, especially in the urban areas, to help the
authorities in spotting drug dealers and abusers and finding remedies
to reduce the danger.

This was the message of the International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking that Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitoula put
across in his statement the other day.