NATIONAL10 (Spotlight Weelky)]

Thinking Anew

The changing nature and scale of the problem calls for new strategies

By AKSHAY SHARMA

Prem Magar is sniffing a bag filled with "thinner" in Thamel. "This makes my mind fly and helps me to withstand the cold," says the 12-year-old street child. "I, along with some friends, search through the garbage piles around the city to get mobil, kerosene, gasoline." When he is not sniffing bags or containers to get that kick, Prem tries to make a living by begging around the streets of Thamel.

Thamel and other tourist hubs of the capital are filled with people like Prem who follow foreigners and offer to sell hashish, brown sugar and a vast array of drugs. At a time when they should be in school, these children acts as conduits between consumers and peddlers, replenishing their supplies and maintaining accounts in their heads.

How did Prem become a drug pusher? "I know I could have chosen any other activity to earn a living. But things turned out this way. When I came here three years ago, I used to smoke cigarettes. Then I saw people throwing so much money on things like these. It made me want to trying it myself."

What drug sells the most in Kathmandu? "A lot of the teenagers come looking for brown sugar," says Prem. A recent study conducted by the Richmond Fellowship Program, a drug rehabilitation initiative, found that most of the abusers are youths. Apart from the names ó often adorned in slang — these people hardly know much about what they are ingesting or inhaling.

"The brown sugar you get here is not of good quality," says Saroj Shrestha of Goreto. "They are usually cheap stuff. One sample I examined had arrived from Burma. But it has been one of the most profitable means of earning easy money over the centuries," he says. His organization plans to provide the government with a list of recommendations on ways of stepping up the anti-drugs fight.

A large proportion of Nepal's youth population is affected in one way or the other by substance-abuse problems. "The were three boys from my class who were expelled from college when the campus chief caught them inhaling nail polish at the college toilet," says Pravin Timilsina, a BBS student. "When I wake up in the morning, I reach out under my pillow for the syringe," says 24-year-old Bhuwan Gurung of Chabhil.

For nearly four decades, the problem of addiction has bedevilled people around the world. Governments and voluntary organizations have spent billions on prevention and rehabilitation programs. But the problem of hard drugs has been compounded by the increasingly availability of their synthetic counterparts.

Southeast Asia is fast becoming the next front in the global war on drugs, second only to the multi-billion-dollar effort under way in South America. Efforts to curb the region's drug-trafficking problem will attract more outside support, including increased US military involvement. But the region will also turn into a political battleground as Washington and Beijing compete for regional hegemony, say experts.

Behind the chilling geo-strategic dimensions, the trade in drugs continues smoothly on the streets of the capital. "Just tell me what kind of drug you need. Cocaine? Ecstasy? I can provide them to you if you have the money," says Timilsina. "Walk into a disco and you will be surprised to see how many girls are into drugs these days."

His statement, like Prem's sniffing, only bolsters the case for reinforcing as well as refocusing the anti-drugs campaign.

WEATHER
Nature's Vagaries

Storm clouds blowing from the west pours rainfall in the country

By AKSHAY SHARMA

"This year it has not rained that much. I have a feeling that something has gone wrong with the weather, too," worries Hemanta Subedi, who earns his living off a plot of land near Nagarkot. The last few days of sunshine have meant a lot for his crops. Now he is hoping the weather to give them a chance to survive.

The weather has not followed its regular path. During US Secretary of State Colin Powell's recent visit, even Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba seemed a little agitated about the weather. The rain has been followed by sunshine, which an official at the Meteorology Department suggests will be good for farmers. "North-eastern winds blowing clouds to the mountains have brought rains to mid-eastern, northern and some eastern parts of Nepal," said a weather forecaster at the Tribhuvan International Airport (TIA).

Dang bore the brunt of the rainfall this time, with an average of 6.6 mm. Dadeldhura, Dhangadi, Nepalgunj and Bhairahawa, too, had their share of rain. Although it has been cold in Kathmandu, experts say temperatures have not gone as bad as they did seven years ago. The thermometer has not read

below 2 degrees Celsius, say experts. It is getting warmer compared to last year.

Storm clouds have been blowing from Afghanistan, Pakistan and India into Kathmandu. TIA experts say this phenomenon will continue for a month, which will invite more cold and rain. How does Hemanta Subedi feel about his crops? "I am prepared for the best and the worst depending on the turn the weather takes."