Farhad, though a child, is a drug addict and admitted in the Changa Amaj hospital. His mother sits by his bedside with two other children. “My husband has been using opium for the last 15 years,” she says. “He has not worked for at least two. My children were hungry and I fed them opium.”
Millions of dollars have been spent on countering drugs in Afghanistan but the business in narcotics shows no signs of slowing. Recent reports show that the number of drug addicts has now reached 3.5 million; more than half are women and children.
Children are often introduced to drugs at home. Working mothers sedate their infants with opium so they can work. Mujibul Rahman Rahimi, spokesperson for the chief executive’s office told a press conference that addiction among children and women was one of the “big” problems facing the country.
Men who are addicts expose their wives and children to drugs. There are entire families of homeless living under the bridge in the Pol e Sukhta area. “What is the government doing?” asks Dr Abdul Rahim Helal, a medical professional and civil society activist. “The government needs to set up more deaddiction and rehabilitation centres.”
Najiaullah Samoon, another civil society activist, points out that most children staying with addicted adults become addicts themselves. “The government is resorting to empty words (promises to tackle the problem),” he says.
Jamila Afghani, deputy minister of labour and social affairs, reiterates that addiction starts in childhood. Salamat Azimi, minister of counter narcotics, estimates there are some 100,000 addicted women and a similar number of addicted youths. An estimated 7 percent are female.
However, Najibullah Babrak, head of the child support department of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) pegs the number of addicted children at 150,000.
Dr Fawad Osmani from the Ministry of Public Health says the government treats only 40 addicted people every year which includes children.
Jamshed, 18, is a resident of Chak district in Maidan Wardak province. His father is a drug addict and abandoned the family. Jamshed who never went to school looks for work as a daily wager at Campany Square. “I started to work at 8 years,” he says.
