Children and adolescents are at serious risk due to the availability of cheap and easily available drugs in various urban and semi-urban areas of the country. Recent police statistics and the experience of rehabilitation centers have shown that drug abuse is no longer limited to youth but is also spreading to school-age children.

According to the statistics of the Area Police Office, Dharan, more than 180 people have been arrested in Dharan Sub-metropolitan City alone in the seven months of the current fiscal year. Of these, 93 are in the age group of 18 to 25 years and 2 are under 17 years.

According to DSP Gribun Babu Rai of the Area Police Office, Dharan, children are getting addicted to illegal drugs due to cheap prices and easy access. Similarly, the trend of starting addiction at a young age is increasing due to family breakdown, lack of parental supervision, mental instability, wrong associations and changes in the social environment. 'The digital age and the open Nepal-India border have added challenges to drug trafficking control,' he said. 'Drugs are easily imported from the border areas and distributed locally, so their access to adolescents has increased.'

DSP Rai said that criminal acts such as theft, beatings, and petty fights are increasing due to drug addiction. Just a few days ago, it was confirmed that most of the youths arrested in Dharan-11 during a petty fight with homemade weapons, such as khukuri, were drug users. Rai said that the plainclothes police have increased their activity in Dharan after drug users started to be involved in criminal incidents.

Suman Rai, 17, of Dharan-17, is a representative character who is addicted to drugs. While studying in college, the habit of using drugs once in a while in the company of friends gradually became a regular part of his life. He says that what was initially taken for simple curiosity and fun later turned into a serious addiction. According to him, he used to mix drugs like marijuana, Spaspen (spasm tablets) and Tamadol and make a 'formula' and consume them.

He said that he easily fell into their trap because those substances were easily available at cheap prices. He said that although he was attracted by peer pressure and bad company at first, both his body and mind gradually got used to it. He has been in a rehabilitation center for the past one month now.

Similarly, 18-year-old Sandeep Pariyar of Dharan-15 has been addicted to drugs for the past 5 years. After the death of his father and his mother's second marriage, the family disintegration had affected him. Living with his grandmother, he felt mentally insecure because he did not get his mother's love. Trying to get out of this situation, he fell into bad company at a young age.

His addiction, which started with cigarettes at around the age of 13, gradually turned into drugs. After leaving home and reaching the streets, he said that he was not only involved in drug use but also in transporting and supplying drugs. Over time, his studies began to be seriously affected and he was forced to drop out of school after grade 6. After dropping out of education, his life became more uncontrolled and drugs became a part of his daily life.

He started living as a street child and then he also became dependent on the Voice of Children organization in Itahari. Where street children are kept. But from there too, he would run away and end up on the streets. Now he is 18 years old, but his addiction gradually expanded to marijuana and various types of tablets and brown heroin.

According to him, he would transport drugs from the border, deliver them to dealers and supply them to various people through orders and from there, he would buy drugs again with the money he got. "I used to buy drugs from dealers and sell them to others and use the money I received to buy them again," he said. Some time ago, the police seized 5 grams of drugs from him during a check. He is currently undergoing treatment at a rehabilitation center.

According to the police, 339 people were arrested in drug-related cases in the fiscal year 2081/82, of which 9 were aged 17, 161 were aged 18 to 25, 122 were aged 26 to 35, 40 were aged 36 to 45 and 7 were above 56.

Similarly, 192 drug cases were registered in the fiscal year 2080/81. Of these, 6 were aged 17, 86 were aged 18 to 25, 40 were aged 26 to 35, 18 were aged 36 to 45 and 3 were above 56, according to police statistics.

According to Anis Gurung, a representative of the KYC Rehabilitation Center in Dharan, most of the people coming for treatment recently are teenagers. ‘Family stress, mental instability and bad company are seen as the main reasons,’ he said, ‘The problem is becoming more complicated due to lack of timely treatment and counseling.’