UNODC CONCERNED ON DRUG ABUSE

KATHMANDU: On the eve of International Day against Drug Abuse and
Illicit Trafficking that falls tomorrow, the United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has sounded the alarm that there is risk of
public health disaster in less developed countries, including Nepal.

The designated theme for this year is 'Think Health, Not
Drugs'.

Drug Report- 2010 released by UNODC said, "Poor countries have other
priorities and fewer resources. They are not in a position to absorb
the consequences of increased drug use. As a result, there is now the
risk of a public health disaster in developing countries that would
enslave masses of humanity to the misery of drugs."

According to the report, opium is consumed in countries like
Bangladesh and Nepal. But Afghanistan does not appear to be the
source. Government reports and recent field research have confirmed
the existence of illicit poppy cultivation in Nepal as well as in the
bordering areas of Bangladesh and India.

"Until now, it was generally assumed that these markets were captured
by Myanmar and Afghan suppliers, but the possibility of an emerging
regional source of supply cannot be discounted and needs to be studied
further," read the report.

In Nepal, heroin consumption appears to have increased in recent
years. According to official reports of the governments of Nepal and
Bangladesh, almost all the heroin consumed in those countries are
produced in India.

"Cannabis has been suggested as a source of funding for rebel
movements in regions as diverse as Casamance (Senegal), Aceh
(Indonesia) and southern Nepal," read the report.

The 2006 government report suggested that 0.24 per cent of population
aged between 15 to 64 were drug abusers. Opium poppy was reportedly
removed from 95 hectares of land from 2002 to 2009.

Narcotic Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU), New Baneshwor,
is the only agency battling Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in the
country. The illegal drugs are usually trafficked to other countries
via Tribhuvan International Airport, taking advantage of lax security.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Ganesh Raj Rai informed that Nepal
was on the verge of becoming a safe haven for national and
international drug smugglers, who would send the drugs to Europe and
America, thanks to the lack of adequate resources and hi-tech gadgets
to check the crime at TIA. "We are doing our best to control drugs
trafficking and to bring the guilty to book," DIGP Rai stated.

Pakistanis and Africans have topped the list of foreigners smuggling
drugs like hashish and heroin to other countries. According to police,
more than 500 drug traffickers and peddlers, both Nepali and foreign,
were brought to book over a period of one year.