According to the Annual Report 2008 released globally on Friday, some 34 percent of such drug users in Nepal have HIV/AIDS. This is, but, a decline from a peak of 68 percent in 2003.
Nepal has over 47,000 drug users and 60 percent use drug through injection, according to Central Bureau of Statistics.
The number of drug users is growing annually by some 10 percent in Nepal.
According to Narcotic Drugs Control Law Enforcement Unit (NDCLEU), New Baneshwar, altogether 634 persons were arrested from various parts of the country in 2008 for smuggling drugs. Of them, 509 are Nepali men, 53 Nepali women, 55 male foreigners and 17 female foreigners. About 60 percent of the foreigners arrested are Indian nationals.
According to Senior Superintendent of Police Hemanta Malla, chief of Narcotic Drugs Law Enforcement Unit, New Baneshwar, police seized 105 kg opium, 9,613 kg marijuana, and 1,989 kg of hashish during 2008.
Addressing the function organized to release the report, Oliver Lemet, program coordinator of United Nations Office of Drug Control in Nepal, said drug smugglers are found to be using Nepal as a transit country.
The report said the prevalence of HIV among injecting drug users in India in 2006 was estimated at a national average of 8.71 percent, compared with 0.36 percent in general adult population. Likewise, in Bangladesh, Dhaka, the rate rose from 1.4 percent in 2000 to 7 percent in 2006.
The INCB annual report warned about the new channels of diversion of ephedrine, the chemical used in the manufacture of amphetamine-type stimulants such as methamphetamine, amphetamine and MDMA (ecstasy). The board said criminal organizations often pose as fictitious firms to obtain the chemicals they need to manufacture illicit drugs.
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