Farmers in Bara and Parsa, who were left unemployed after the Briganj Sugar Mills closed down, have started farming opium. There have been no restrictions on farming ganja in the past years so poppy fields are blossoming. Due to lack of proper regulation by the government, 20 VDCs are farming opium on almost 340 hectares of land. Locals claim that opium and ganja farming is being sustained by the help of the police. Most cultivators seem to prefer areas close to the border.

In both districts, locals say that the police only destroy ganja plantations for show. Last year, the police destroyed just 124 hectares of ganja out of 1,354 hectares. SP Subodh Ghimire says he has no resources to pursue drug cultivators.