For women drug users, a cycle of addiction, abandonment and relapse
Summary
Female drug users in Nepal face repeated relapse, family abandonment and a severe lack of state-supported rehabilitation and reintegration services. In Banke and across Lumbini Province, private centres are carrying most of the burden while many recovering women are pushed back into exploitation and sex work.
Key Points
- Meena and Soniya’s stories show how women drug users face stigma, abandonment and repeated relapse even after rehabilitation.
- Officials and rehab operators say many vulnerable women end up in prostitution or other high-risk work because they lack family and financial support.
- Lumbini Province and Banke district have rising drug-related cases, but local and provincial governments have not built enough rescue, treatment or reintegration infrastructure.
- Experts and activists say the state’s failure to provide follow-up support leaves recovering women and girls at high risk of returning to addiction.
