The New Life

The new Life
“Do not dwell in the past; do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment” – Buddha

Sushil Khatri, 45, an ex-drug user from Kathmandu, lost most of his teeth due to 21 years of a drugged life, but now he has complete set of dentures which gives him a new confident smile in his new drug-free life.

He stopped using hard drug at the age of 34 and he has been clean for 11 years. Sushil renews his commitment every day.  He says “Every morning when I wake up first I make a commitment that I will not have drugs today.”

Although he spent 21 years in a drug haze he is very positive about life. He expressed the importance of every day, “I am living for today, yesterday is gone and I do not know about tomorrow, this does not mean I do not plan in my life.”

It is now eight years that Sushil first learned that he is HIV positive. . “If you want to change others, you have to start from yourself. Think positive, live positive, I am HIV positive that is why I am here now.” He added.
Thousands of youths in Nepal, especially in Kathmandu are addicted to different kinds of hard drugs. But in due course some users leave drugs totally and live a normal life.

According to the “Summary report of the survey on Hard Drug Users in Nepal 2007”, there are 46,309 hard drug users in Nepal. Among this number of drug users 92.8% are male and 7.2% are female. The highest numbers of drug users are found in Kathmandu, 17,458 drug users. The numbers have certainly increased by 2013 due to globalization, migration, service gap, poverty, unemployment, so-called modern life and other social and political factors.
Hard drugs entered Nepal in the late 1960s with the Hippie movement. Now Nepal is used as a transit point for drug trafficking. There is no exact data available that tells us how many people have left hard drug use totally. Sushil Khatri assumes that there are about 5000 people who have left drug use in Nepal and among them about 2000 are in Kathmandu Valley.

Shanta Ghale, from Chitwan district of Nepal, has been clean for seven years and living a new life with her family. She runs a small restaurant in Gaidakot. She is happy that her families, relatives and society are no longer imposing the discrimination that she used to face during her drugged life. She was into drugs for seven years. Drug was like a disaster in her family. Her late husband was a drug user until the end of his life. Her eldest son and her new husband were also into drugs. But now, everyone is clean. She says, “My family is a Clean Family now”.

Milan Gurung and Bobi Thapa, ex- drug users, run a Brown Sugar Café in Kathmandu Valley. They met each other during their drugged life, but now both are clean. They support their families from the income that they get from the Café.
Everyone makes mistakes in life, but if you are able to correct these mistakes and go beyond them, you can have a new life. People in society still do not accept that drug users can have a normal life after leaving drugs. The life stories of these optimistic ex-drug users could be inspirations for the people to leave drugs and live a happy new life.

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