3.5 million Afghans addicted to drugs in two decades

FARAH CITY (Pajhwok): More than 3.5 million people became addicted to the use drugs during the past two decades in Afghanistan, a senior Ministry of Interior (MoI) official said on Monday.

Maulvi Abdul Khaliq Hamkar, the deputy assistant of counter-narcotics department of MoI, told a gathering in Farah province: “In the past two decades, 3.5 youth became drug addicts in the country, which is a huge loss to our country.”

He said 47,000 addicts were sent to addicts rehabilitation hospitals and treated for their addiction since the caretaker government’s coming into power.

Without giving details, Hamkar said some Iranian institutions had pledged to provide Afghan farmers with alternative crops in order not to grow poppies. The security forces have confiscated and destroyed 43,000 kilograms of drugs during the past year, he added.

It is worth mentioning that the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate has banned cultivation of poppy, purchase and sale of drugs.

aw/ma

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