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The Rise and Response to Opium Dependency in Afghanistan

For many people in Afghanistan without access to healthcare, opium is often the only means they haveto control pain. However, there is now a massive culture of dependency throughout the country, creating serious social, economic and health effects on those who are addicted as well as their families and communities. Islamic Relief has opened a new health center in northern Afghanistan to treat dependency, giving people a chance to combat their addiction and begin a new life.

Afghanistan is the world’s largest producer of opium and heroin; a rising number of Afghans are also becoming dependent on the drug. One of the provinces most severely affected is Balkh in northern Afghanistan. Here, opium is often traded like tea and is largely considered to be a medicine rather than a dangerous drug.

Many of the people dependent on opium in Balkh are women who use it to dull the pain caused by working for many hours on heavy weaving looms. However, the dependency is affecting their health, livelihoods and ability to care for their children. In order to tackle this problem, Islamic Relief has been working in partnership with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and has established a Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, in northern Balkh’s Shortepa District that provides counseling, detoxification services, and medical care.

Taza’s Pain

After living in an Afghan refugee camp in Pakistan for 15 years, 42-year-old Taza Gul, along with her husband and children, returned to their native Afghanistan in 2001 hoping for a fresh start in life. They returned home with nothing, except the food package they received from the United Nations, and had to stay with relatives for a few months before getting their own two-roomed house in a small village in Shortepa.  Unfortunately, Taza Gul, a patient at Islamic Relief ’s drug center in Shortepa, is just one of the many number of women who are dependent on drugs in Afghanistan. She suffers from many medical and psychological problems. She often feels suicidal, blames herself for her children’s addiction to opium and considers herself unable to care for them.

“I gave birth to 11 daughters and sons but unfortunately six of them have passed away,” said Taza Gul. “In my last unsafe delivery I gave birth to twin male babies with the support of an inexperienced, traditional birth attendant. I suffered severe problems after the birth and became seriously sick with continuous, intolerable pain.”

Unending Agony

“As the time passed, my problem got so complicated and the pain became tremendously agonizing, that I started crying all day and night. This is when I was advised by an addict to use the opium for pain relief. I found it relaxed me and got rid of my pain and I didn’t have any other access to painkillers because there was no health center here at the time,” she continued.

“None of my other family members ever advised me to stop. My husband, two young sons and many other close relativesalso use the drug.”

“The health of my twin babies was very bad. They looked so weak and pale because we could not afford to give them enough food or healthcare. We were spending most of our money on deteriorated so badly that he died when he was only eight months old.” 

Determined to Change

“This event has deeply touched my senses and I am now determined to give more time to the surviving twin and to save his life. I started working hard with my husband on our small home farm and tried to get laboring work where I could, but I found it difficult to leave my child at home as he used to cry when I was not there,” Taza explained.

“Unfortunately I took the advice of another neighbor who told me to give my child some of the same ghost (opium) to relax him so I could go out to work. Many other mothers also do this. It is the decision between staying at home and having no money or to calm my sons with the drug so I can earn money for their food. I made the wrong decision and gave him the drug so I could go and work. “

Uncertain Future

“I am sad not only because I am an addict but because I don’t know what the future of my sons will be. They have never been to school and have no interest in going. I wish me and my family could give the drug up and I am hopeful that the treatment I am receiving will help me.”

Islamic Relief’s Work

Islamic Relief ’s drug treatment and rehabilitation center in Shortepa provides residential care as well as in home support, including counseling, detoxification, advice and regular follow-ups to check patients’ progress. This is part of a general health clinic that provides over 7,500 people with basic health care including prenatal and post-natal care. The staff also carries out educational awareness-raising sessions concerning the harmful effects of drug use within the local communities.