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Afghanistan: Kicking the Habit
Using opium or hashish is considered perfectly acceptable by increasing numbers of people.
By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi in Mazar-e-Sharif and Amanullah Nasrat in Kabul (ARR No. 197, 14-Dec-05)
After a long day of carpet weaving, Abdullah, 48, likes to relax with a nice cup of tea - and some opium.
“I have been eating opium for as long as I can remember,” said Abdullah, who lives in the northern province of Jowjan. “People say it is harmful, but it isn’t true. My father and grandfather ate opium. Everyone in our village does. They’ve been enjoying it for a very long time.”
While much of the world’s attention has focused on illegal narcotics being exported from the country, the spotlight has now been turned on Afghanistan’s internal drug problem.
According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, and released in November, Afghanistan now has close to one million drug users, or 3.8 per cent of the population. This is roughly on par with its neighbours: the figure is a slightly higher than the percentage of drug users in Pakistan, but lower than in Iran, say experts in the area.
Out of 920,000 users, 740,000 are men. The UN report also estimates that 60,000 children under 15 also use drugs.
The substance of choice for the vast majority of these users is hashish, with approximately 520,000 people smoking or ingesting the drug. Another 150,000 use opium, while a much smaller number, estimated at 50,000, use the heroin, the refined derivative of opium. Of these, an estimated 7,000 inject the drug.
Jehanzeb Khan, international project coordinator for UNODC, says many of Afghanistan’s addicts were first introduced to drugs when their were living abroad as refugees. “I would say that 35 per cent of our male addicts and 25 per cent of our female addicts became addicted in Iran,” he said.
Large numbers of Afghans fled the wars and conflicts of the past three decades and sought refuge in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Now they are flooding home and, says Jehanzeb, bringing their drug habits with them.
Najibullah 38, a resident of central Logar province, admits he is an opium addict. He started smoking three years ago, when he was refugee in Iran. When he returned home, he found that his father was growing opium poppies.
Read More
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=258672&apc_state=henh
After a long day of carpet weaving, Abdullah, 48, likes to relax with a nice cup of tea - and some opium.
“I have been eating opium for as long as I can remember,” said Abdullah, who lives in the northern province of Jowjan. “People say it is harmful, but it isn’t true. My father and grandfather ate opium. Everyone in our village does. They’ve been enjoying it for a very long time.”
While much of the world’s attention has focused on illegal narcotics being exported from the country, the spotlight has now been turned on Afghanistan’s internal drug problem.
According to a survey conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, UNODC, and released in November, Afghanistan now has close to one million drug users, or 3.8 per cent of the population. This is roughly on par with its neighbours: the figure is a slightly higher than the percentage of drug users in Pakistan, but lower than in Iran, say experts in the area.
Out of 920,000 users, 740,000 are men. The UN report also estimates that 60,000 children under 15 also use drugs.
The substance of choice for the vast majority of these users is hashish, with approximately 520,000 people smoking or ingesting the drug. Another 150,000 use opium, while a much smaller number, estimated at 50,000, use the heroin, the refined derivative of opium. Of these, an estimated 7,000 inject the drug.
Jehanzeb Khan, international project coordinator for UNODC, says many of Afghanistan’s addicts were first introduced to drugs when their were living abroad as refugees. “I would say that 35 per cent of our male addicts and 25 per cent of our female addicts became addicted in Iran,” he said.
Large numbers of Afghans fled the wars and conflicts of the past three decades and sought refuge in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. Now they are flooding home and, says Jehanzeb, bringing their drug habits with them.
Najibullah 38, a resident of central Logar province, admits he is an opium addict. He started smoking three years ago, when he was refugee in Iran. When he returned home, he found that his father was growing opium poppies.
Read More
http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=258672&apc_state=henh
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