MoI, Kabul police to conduct survey of drug addicts

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Interior (MoI) and Kabul police plan to launch a nationwide survey on the number of drug addicts, reasons for it and determining the level of illicit crop cultivation in Afghanistan.

Khalid Zadran, spokesman for Kabul police, said they would jointly conduct survey with the Counter-Narcotics Department of the ministry.

Professional reams would be formed and dispatched to areas where drugs were cultivated, Zadran added.

The teams will ask farmers questions about reasons for switching to the cultivation of drugs and what they want in terms of alternative livelihoods.

The teams would also collect information about the numbers of addicts and reasons for the use of narcotics, Zadran added.

According to reports, 3.5 million people across Afghanistan have become addicted to drugs over the past two decades.

Figures from the MoI Counter-Narcotics Department, 85,000 addicts have been rounded up across the country and 7,000 of them are under treatment at rehabilitation centres in Kabul since the interim government’s takeover.

Last year, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan issued a decree banning the cultivation of poppies, drug trafficking and dealing in narcotics.

However, reports show the illicit poppy crop has still been cultivated in some areas of the country. But authorities claim poppies on thousands of acres of land have been eradicated.

aw/mud