N arcotic Drug Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU) estimates that around 200,000 capsules of smuggled prescriptive drugs are consumed in the Valley every month. Each capsule, which on average fetches Rs 6 in the Indian market, sells for up to Rs 40 in the capital. NDCLEU fears that medical drugs like Norphin, Norphazine, Borphin, Beupronarphine and Methaaphetamine are substituting heroine as the most abused drugs in the local market. In 2006, the NDCLEU had seized 11,205 pieces of Beupronarphine injections, 30,10,393 tablets of Methaaphetamine and 3,815 pieces of Diazepam injections, which are among the most abused medicinal drugs. While Indian medicinal drugs are smuggled into Nepal, the smuggling of hashish from Nepal to India has also increased in recent times.

NDCLEU has singled out 10 organised crime syndicates for carrying out the bulk of the smuggling and trading of medicinal drugs in Kathmandu. But the government’s failure to restrict the movement of the smugglers inside the country and the lack of surveillance facilities along the porous Indo-Nepal border is chiefly to be blamed for the proliferation of the drug trade. Only strong resolve of both the governments to tamp down on smuggling activities, strict border surveillance and efficient law enforcement agencies can help bring the proliferating drug business under effective control.