As the Afghan farmers prepare to harvest another bumper poppy crop, little is being done to address the rising trend of drug addiction among Afghans both inside Afghanistan and those living in the refugee communities in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan. While opium traditionally has been used for curative purposes â treating chronic pains and certain other aliments â the rising number of heroin addiction is a relatively recent phenomenon. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC), nearly 40 percent of drug users in Afghanistan began their habit in neighbouring countries like Pakistan and Iran, either as economic migrants or refugees fleeing war and conflict. The finding, that friends and peers were the main impetus for new addicts, illustrates the importance of drug abuse prevention programmes for refugees before they return home. A recent UNODC report says despite a ban on drug use and the criminalisation of the practice by the Afghan authorities, drug use is increasing due to easier access to opium and its downstream products like heroin, unemployment, poverty, âsadnessâ, and âmental pressuresâ resulting from war-related trauma.
Last year the first ever UNODC assessment of drugs usage in the Afghan capital, Kabul, showed that heroin, opium, alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs are being used by thousands of people across the city. The report also indicated that many returning refugees and women are among the drug users. Till recently the consumption of hard drugs in Afghanistan was not considered a major problem. But aid workers now maintain that the situation might be changing fast and the Afghan society has to grapple with yet another tragic challenge. Opium has been a traditional medicine in Afghanistan and hashish smoking has always been common. Even so, taking drugs was considered a social stigma. Interestingly, nearly one-third of the opium users interviewed were women, as were more than a third of those who abused pharmaceuticals especially sedatives.
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