Alarming Rates of Addicted Afghan Women
Unprecedented levels of drug addiction among Afghan women have raised concerns, as the Governor of Helmand, Gulab Mangal, says 30 percent of the 70,000 drug addicts in the southern Afghan province are women. This amounts to about 13,000 to 14,000 women.
Helmand is currently the source of 57 percent of the opium output in Afghanistan, which produces 90 percent of the world's opium, Reuters reported in early September. Despite a 33 percent reduction in poppy seed production compared to last year, 69,833 hectares of poppy fields remain under cultivation in the province.
Reuters said that the amount of opium Afghanistan produces every year far exceeds world demand for illicit opiates derived from the drug, which is around 5,000 tons. High levels of production over the past few years have caused prices of opium to fall dramatically.
The Afghan official said that addicted females developed the habit mainly due to their constant involvement in the cultivation and production of the drug.
One of the women said they had been assigned to collect opium and poppy seeds, leading many to become addicted by starting to consume the skins and leaves from the poppies.
Another said her husband, who used to sell and use heroin, got her addicted to the powder as well.
One female, who used to help poppy production in the province's Babaji area, said that many developed the addiction by sucking the poison out of the wounds they received when slitting the opium poppies to extract the juice.
An Afghan parliamentarian representing Helmand, Nasimeh Niazi, has underlined the need for rehabilitation facilities for the addicts.
She said social predicaments, domestic violence, unemployment, and the war were some of the main factors contributing to addiction among women. Niazi insisted that while trying to save the public from the plight, one should attempt to remove the social obstacles.
