Dhangadhi, May 10:

The teenagers of different districts in the Terai region are increasingly being drawn towards drugs, according to the organisations working to rehabilitate drug users.

Compounding the problem, the teenagers, once addicted, are unwilling to give up the drugs and it becomes nigh impossible to rehabilitate them.

There are over 600 drug addicts in Kailali and Kanchanpur districts. Well over 300 drug users are present in Dhangadhi alone, regional coordinator of Recovering Nepal, Ram Bahadur Rajak, once a drug user himself, said.

Rajak said he was successfully rehabilitated at Recovering Nepal. After he quit drugs, he stayed with the centre to help others do the same. He said as many as 1,000 people may be using drugs in Dhangadhi, though official figure was much less.

An increasing number of school kids are lured to drugs.

“The number of drug users has gone up considerably in the last few years,” Rajak said.