Afghan Drug Addicts Getting Treatment
An addict smokes heroin in an abandoned building in Kabul. (file photo)
June 12, 2009
KABUL -- A ceremony marking the successful treatment of drug addicts in Afghanistan has been held in Kabul, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reports.
Deputy Health Minister Nadera Hayat Burhani told Radio Free Afghanistan that in the last two months the rehabilitation center in Kabul successfully treated 56 young addicts.
According to official Afghan statistics, there were about 920,000 drug addicts in Afghanistan in 2005, of whom 720,000 were men, 120,000 were women, and 60,000 were children.
It is believed that the current number of drug addicts in Afghanistan is around 1 million.
Although drug addicts in Kabul have greater opportunities for treatment now, experts say people outside the capital are largely ignored.