AFP via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Afghanistan has a drug problem from the abundant poppies that get made into opium. A group of Afghan women has found a way out of their addiction through a different crop.
The Telegraph (UK): Afghanistan is seeing a boom in methamphetamine drug production, potentially providing a new revenue stream for the Taliban in a country already notorious for opium and heroin. The United Nations said Afghan seizures of the powerful stimulant drug had increased exponentially in the past five years and then “gone off the scale” in 2019. Click
Al Jazeera: Users describe why they are increasingly addicted to so-called tablet k pills, a drug that officials know little about. A group of well-to-do young men in their 20s get out and start discussing a new drug that has, in their words, gained popularity among young Afghans. “Hashish is nothing. Opium is nothing. All anyone
Time: The U.S. Sent Its Most Advanced Fighter Jets to Blow Up Cheap Opium Labs. Now It’s Canceling the Program – After hundreds of airstrikes failed to curtail the Taliban’s $200 million-a-year opium trade, the U.S. military quietly ended a yearlong campaign that targeted drug labs and networks laced around the Afghan countryside. The end of
Tolo News: Counter-narcotics department of Herat province said that more than 60,000 addicts exist in Herat province of which 13 percent are females. The department said that despite the high number of females addicts in the province there are only three treatment centers for them, which have 150 beds available. Click here to read more
Tolo News: Kandahar officials have raised concern over the increasing number of female drug addicts in the province. According to local officials, there are currently nine women being treated for drug addiction at a rehabilitation center in the Kandahar. The women said that poverty and insecurity have driven them to using drugs. In March, public health
Ariana: Nearly 2,000 addicts are spending their day and night in a cemetery in Saray Shamali area of the capital Kabul. Surprisingly, some of the dogs in the area have also been addicted to drugs. People are narrating thousands of stories from the cemetery, even one claims the addicts have taken a dead body out of
Al Jazeera / March 17, 2018: Opium production in Afghanistan has been on the rise since the US invasion in 2001. Last year 9,000 tonnes were produced, an increase of 87 percent. As a result, the record number of people turning to drugs in desperation is also increasing. Al Jazeera’s Tony Birtley reports from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Tolo News: A clinic, established two and half years ago in southern Helmand province, uses water therapy and counseling to treat drug addicts rather than medication. Clinic staff said water therapy was more effective than prescribing medicine. The clinic is now however run by a recovering addict who was once a patient at the clinic. Click