(Part 1/3) “I think the problems in my life were destined when I was sent away to boarding school in India when I was 7 years old. It was not mother’s fault. She sent me away because she was worried that the environment at home was no place for a kid to grow. Father drank heavily, did drugs, never worked and at many times he was violent with mother. While in school, mother was my only family and my only contact. The times I called her were times when I needed money. And she would promptly send it. By the end of school I was already habituated with marijuana and when I moved to Delhi for college I was exposed to the street hustle and more potent drugs. The first time I smoked heroine was during the last year of my college in India. It was only after I returned to Nepal that everything started going downhill. Because drugs were so easily available in India and often very cheap, I never had to go without it for a long period of time. That meant I never had to experience a severe withdrawal or a crisis. But back in Kathmandu, finding drugs was difficult and it was expensive. So I started injecting Tidijesic because i could not afford heroine anymore. The next 6 years I did everything I could to satisfy my cravings for drug with complete disregard for family, friends, my health and my own sanity. I had become enslaved.” (Karma Sherpa, Kathmandu)