Spike in number of female addicts lifts veil on Afghanistan’s drug war

KABUL: At first, Alina Yaqoobi says she found it “very difficult” to cope with aggressive drug addicts when she began working at a rehabilitation center in Afghanistan’s northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif three years ago.
But with time and due to a “worrying” increase in the number of female addicts across the country, she could not turn away from the problem.
“I have seen a 40 percent increase in the number of patients being treated here. There are people on the waiting list as well,” Yaqoobi, a 28-year-old psychotherapist at the Social Services for Afghan Women (SSAW) rehabilitation center told Arab News.
In recent years, Afghanistan has seen a spike in narcotic drug use, specifically in the impoverished parts of the war-torn country, where foreign-funded groups and international mafia have held sway over the lucrative business to fund the decades-old war in the country.
Government data places the number of drug users at nearly 2.5 million people — out of a population of 36 million — although unofficial estimates say the problem is far worse, affecting almost 4 million.
“Out of those, 850,000 are female drug users, and 170,000 of them are addicts,” Abdul Shokor Haidari, Afghanistan’s deputy health minister, told Arab News.
He cited “war, migration, domestic violence, easy access to drugs, and a lack of social services and facilities” as the main factors behind women turning to drugs.
Yaqoobi says the problem is not limited to the youth alone, with minor girls and women as old as 70 being treated at the SSAW center.
Since its inception more than 11 years ago, she says, the SSAW has rehabilitated female drug users from various parts of the city, such as graveyards, deserted buildings and construction sites, while some were brought in by their families for help.
“Starting the treatment process is very tough because addicts are in a bad state. They know no one and are very violent, but we try to calm them down,” Yaqoobi said.
“In the 45 days that they are here, we provide education, sporting and recreational activities, such as weaving small carpets and tailoring. We find a sense of glory and happiness when they go home, abandoning the addiction and beginning a new life,” she added.
In addition to the SSAW, there are 17 other drug rehabilitation centers for women across the country, Masooma Jafary, a spokesperson for the Health Ministry, told Arab News.
And while addicts are largely treated like outcasts, especially women in Afghanistan’s patriarchal society, the country continues to retain its spot as one of the world’s top producers of poppy, which is turned into opiate and later refined heroin. 
Yaqoobi says most women seeking treatment at the SSAW center are addicted to opium or crystal meth.
“I used opium for years, ever since I was a child refugee in Iran,” Bibi Nazia, a former SSAW patient, told Arab News.
“I married a drug addict in Iran and came to this center two years ago after arriving home. I feel a lot better now and have also managed to persuade my husband to give up too. I owe my new life to the center’s efforts,” she added.
Many, however, are not so lucky. 
According to Haidary, “data from drug treatment centers showed that 70 percent of the patients had relapsed after treatment.”
Jafary says it is “because their husbands are addicts,” forcing many women to resume taking drugs.
Experts say the issue is far deeper than what meets the eye.
“Violence and discrimination force these people to turn again to drugs. Mistreatment of family members of former addicts, social stress and lack of economic support, as well as a shortage of jobs, force some addicts to go back to drugs,” Zarqa Yaftali, a women’s rights activist, told Arab News.
“We need to create jobs and entertainment for former addicts to prevent them from relapsing,” she added.
Yaqoobi said that “positive feedback” from former addicts and their families was the main reason that kept her going.
“Addiction destroys families and societies. We are trying to save families, helping one person struggling with drug addiction at a time,” she said.