15.DRUG ADDICTION

Boasting eight of the highest mountains in the world, including Mt. Everest on its border with China, and with a contrasting humid lowland at its south, Nepal has quite a diverse topography. However, this land-locked country with China on the north and India on the south is far from the "Shangri La" paradise that novels and Hollywood have portrayed.

This country of roughly 27 million people, 80% Hindu, has been a magnet for political upheavals for centuries. In addition to the political strife, it also has another problem--drug addiction.

Nepal is not a major producer of the drugs from that area (primarily marijuana and hashish), yet its position geographically makes it a way-station for other drug trafficking, which then creates a backwash on its citizens. Plagued also by the Maoist insurgency that constantly has the royaltly on guard, the Nepalese are literally between a rock and a hard place. This instability results further in lack of government legislation and law enforcement's lack of materials. (Source: www.state.gov).

However, all is not lost. Often when the dark cloud of drugs seems to have enveloped all, a hero arises to meet the challenge. Like those from the legendary "Wild West" of American folklore, a lone policeman with only a badge and mountains of courage came forth to take matters into his own hands--not with a gun but with the help of friends from afar.

This hero is Basanta Kunwar, Senior Superintendent of Police. Kunwar saw the effects that drug addiction was having on his fellow countrymen and went searching for a drug rehabilitation program or method that would meet his high criteria. His lucky star appeared in the form of Ms. Evelyne Clark, ABLE Asia Pacific's Tech Export Director for Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka, & Nepal.

Ms. Clark introduced Kunwar to the Narconon? drug-free rehabilitation program that for 40 years has successfully treated people battling drug and alcohol addiction. With Ms. Clark and the Narconon method at hand, Superintendent Basanta, his wife Pooja, and Mrs. Rajina Shah began the first Narconon campaign to lasso the drug addiction problem in Nepal.

Ms. Clark spent five months training Basanta, Pooja and Rajina on the Narconon basic courses, then sent them to Narconon Melbourne in Australia for advanced training. They have since built their sauna and arranged for vitamin supplements to be manufactured in India and sent to them. Additionally, they have acquired two more houses. Between their media promotions and drug education presentations, Ms. Clark calculates that well over 260,000 Nepalese people are now aware of the Narconon programs.

Superintendent Kunwar realized that his drug-free graduates needed to immediately go to work and demonstrate their newly learned life skills; thus he arranged for those who were interested to be trained as security guards.

Nepal is one of 40 countries in the world which now have Narconon centers. More countries are added to the roster each year.

For over forty years the Narconon drug-free rehabilitation method has been working to stem the flood of the river of drug addiction. In 1966, while serving a sentence for drug-related crimes, William Benitez found and read "The Fundamentals of Thought" by humanitarian and author L. Ron Hubbard. With the data gleaned from that book, Benitez beat his own addiction, then went on, with the help of Hubbard, to found the Narconon network, resulting in tens of thousands of people the world over now living productive, drug-free lives.