Rising drug use in Afghanistan

Most of the British public know that the majority of the world’s heroin comes from Afghanistan. Newspapers frequently put this in context with statements such as “the heroin flooding Britain's streets is threatening the lives of UK troops in Afghanistan.” In 2001 at the beginning of the war that is still ongoing Tony Blair stated that "the arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets…that is another part of their regime that we should seek to destroy.” However little is written about the toll that opium is having on ordinary afghan citizens who after decades of war and social unrest have sought solace in drugs.

Not only has poppy cultivation been on the increase since the recent invasion of Afghanistan domestic consumption has also been on the rise. In recent years the amount of opium addicts in Afghanistan has increased dramatically. It is estimated that 500,000 addicts in 2005 has increased to 1.5 million in 2008.

Although opium has been consumed in Afghanistan for a long time the last few years have seen a shift to heroin and an increase in Intravenous drug users (IDU’s). Ironically the majority of the people dependant on the drug first started using it while refugees or working as migrant workers in Iran. Many are in Afghanistan not by choice but because they have been deported after committing a crime – most likely drug possession – leaving their families back in Iran.

Last month Médecins du Monde introduced a methadone treatment program and started treating the first patients. Although some NGO’s have attempted to address these drug addiction issues they have limited resources. Most resources are diverted into the ongoing eradication effort or are swallowed up by the corrupt political system. Many critics claim that the eradication methods are wasteful and ineffective as they have hardly affected poppy cultivation and only push poppy farmers into to Taliban hands.

Increasing injecting drug use has also increase HIV rates which up until 2000 were negligible. Even though at the moment the HIV prevalence rate in Afghanistan is one of the lowest in the world there is still cause for concern. The increasing numbers of IDU’s, the lack of health and social services, current structural problems caused by lack of development and ongoing conflict could mean that Afghanistan is heading for a public health disaster that could be easily prevented.

As with cocaine production in South America, Western governments seem to be only preoccupied by the damage the illicit drugs are doing to western consumers and turn a blind eye to the damage done to society in the countries of origin. The response by Western governments has been to eradicate the drugs at source “war on drugs.” This has been largely ineffectual with lots of money being spent, while cultivation does not decrease and the local inhabitants suffer as a consequence, increasing their own vulnerability to drug dependency.