Nepalgunj, Oct. 6 -- Meena was living in a rented room in Nepalgunj, a submetropolis in Banke district, when police arrested her in possession of illicit substances. Then a higher-secondary science student, she was using hard drugs. The police handed her over to her family, who subsequently placed her in a rehabilitation facility. Two and a half years later, Meena, now 20, is still there, anxious about what awaits her outside.

"I got trapped in the swamp of addiction to the extent that I was ready to do anything just to get a fix," Meena says. "What I endured during that time is something I do not even wish to recall now." The Post is using pseudonyms for the drug users interviewed for this story to protect their privacy.

Meena has now ...