There is a growing need to address the problem of increasing drug and tobacco use in Nepal, especially among the youths. According to the Government of Nepal, there is an average annual growth rate of 5.06 percent in the number of drug users from the year 2013 to 2020. The survey found 1, 00,165 (76.2 percent) drug users were below the age of 30 years. Tobacco use is disproportionately high in Nepal in comparison to other low income countries in the world
On the matter, Bishnu Fueal Sharma the chief executive officer of Recovering Nepal, an umbrella network motivated to combat drug addiction in the country says, “In issues such as
drug abuse simply awareness is not enough, there should be proper education given to people about the harmful effects of substance abuse.”
“Young people are more vulnerable to adopting harmful habits due to peer pressure,” he adds. Numerous studies unanimously agree that smoking habits develop in childhood and adolescence. Moreover,
tobacco companies have now launched fancy and popular products like cigars, cigarillos, roll-your-own tobacco, and bidis that are targeted towards teens who in their lack of experience and peer pressure might start using these harmful products perceiving it to be ‘cool’. Children and
adolescents are not even allowed to vote or marry, but continue to access harmful products at such a young age.
