IRIN
AFGHANISTAN: Drug abuse rising warns CND
22 November 2004


[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

KABUL, 22 November (IRIN) - Drug abuse is continuing to rise with little
happening in the area of demand reduction, the Afghan Counter Narcotics
Directorate (CND) warned on Sunday at a donor conference in the Afghan
capital, Kabul.

"We are noticing that illicit drug abuse is rising day by day and becoming
a big problem," Alamuddin Atheer, CND's deputy director told IRIN. While
there were tens of thousands of drug addicts in Afghanistan, there
remained only one rehabilitation centre for the entire country, he said.

"There is only a 30-bed government centre and a 10-bed facility run by an
NGO in the capital, Kabul, which has more than 60,000 drug addicts,"
Atheer said, adding that there were no such facilities in the provinces.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Afghanistan is the world's largest poppy growing country, providing more
than 80 percent of the world's illicit opium, with 4,200 mt of opium
produced in 2004.

The CND official maintained that drug abuse had worsened following the
lack of a serious response towards demand reduction over the past three
years of the country's reconstruction.

Latest figures for Kabul in 2003 from the UNODC put the number of addicts
in the city at more than 60,000. Of this figure, about 7,000 are heroin
users, nearly 11,000 opium addicts, nearly 25,000 hashish smokers, with
the remainder addicted to prescription drugs and alcohol.

Atheer attributed part of the increase to the return of millions of
refugees from neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, as well as a surplus of
cheap drugs on the market.

According to the CND, while there was no confirmed number of addicts in
the country, reports from some provinces were alarming. "For example, in
some districts of Badakhshan [northeastern province] we have found out
that more than 60 percent of the population uses opium."

Meanwhile, the CND said that there were thousands of women suffering from
opium addiction throughout the country, as well as amongst the large
refugee populations in Pakistan and Iran. And while there was no accurate
data on female addiction levels, it is estimated that in Badakhshan alone,
up to 60,000 women were addicted.

Atheer said, also in Turkmen areas of northern Afghanistan, women
traditionally used opium while they weaved carpets and gave it to their
children to keep them calm.

But the local Afghan NGO Nejat that runs a treatment and rehabilitation
centre in Kabul cautioned against the available data on the number of drug
addicts. Nejat claims that few will admit to using drugs, which are
considered unclean and forbidden by Islam. "The problem is more than is
estimated as very few people will confess they are drug addicts," Tareq
Sulaiman, the director of Nejat, told IRIN.

Lack of public awareness is the leading cause of increasing numbers of
addicted people - Sulaiman explained. "There is a huge lack of awareness
among the people. Many Afghans still think drug abuse is a foreign
problem," he added.

"We need a comprehensive national public awareness campaign to make people
aware that already tens of thousands are victimised by drug abuse and that
their sons 'not just people outside the country' are at risk from illicit
drugs addiction," he said.

The CND has urged the donor community to help them establish new treatment
centres in other cities of the country. "Initially there is an urgent need
for rehabilitation and treatment centres in main cities like Kabul itself,
Kandahar in the south, Herat in the west, Mazar-e Sharif and Badakhshan
provinces," Atheer maintained.


IRIN-Asia
Tel: +92-51-2211451
Fax: +92-51-2292918
Email: IrinAsia@irin.org.pk

[This Item is Delivered to the "Asia-English" Service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views of the
United Nations. For further information, free subscriptions, or to change your
keywords, contact e-mail: IRIN@ocha.unon.org or Web: http://www.irinnews.org .
If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post this item, please retain this credit
and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial sites requires written IRIN
permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2004

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Center for International                  web: www.cidi.org
     Disaster Information             listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
                                    guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -