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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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Opium Addiction On Rise for Afghan Moms, Kids

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(Newser) – Opium is taking a heavy toll on the women and children of Afghanistan, but it's addiction, not production, that's entering the spotlight. Opium is cheaper than a meal, staves off hunger, and brings the family some happiness, one addicted mother tells CBS News as she prepares opium tea for her four children, aged from 4 to 13.

Drug workers estimate there are at least two million addicts—a quarter of them women and children—in the country, which produces and exports almost all of the world's opium. "For every addicted mother, there are on average four addicted children," warns the head of a Kabul treatment center. "If something isn't done today, the country will lose a generation to drugs." 

Afghan children at work in a factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. Drug workers believe hundreds of thousands of the country's children are addicted to opium.
Afghan children at work in a factory in Kabul, Afghanistan. Drug workers believe hundreds of thousands of the country's children are addicted to opium.   (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
An Afghan boy collects resin from poppies in an opium poppy field in the Khogyani district of the Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.
An Afghan boy collects resin from poppies in an opium poppy field in the Khogyani district of the Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan.   (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
Displaced Pashtun children are seen during a gathering near the village of Kafta Khana, Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan.
Displaced Pashtun children are seen during a gathering near the village of Kafta Khana, Baghlan province of northern Afghanistan.   (AP Photo/Bela Szandelszky)
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22 comments
VIEWING:
 
polstroad
Aug 8, 09 11:10 AM CDT
Support homegrown products! We fight a war against Taliban in Afghsnistan and a war against drugs at home. But we do nothing about opium (heroin) that grows there. Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
kokuaguy
Aug 8, 09 2:16 PM CDT
"Opium is cheaper than a meal" says it all. Those people are starving.
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+2
Thinker
Aug 8, 09 11:19 AM CDT
What else do those poor women and children have? At least they don't have to mentally endure the physical hell they live in. Opium is to Afgan women as Religion is to U.S. women. Reply
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0
IN RESPONSE:
Newt
Aug 8, 09 11:32 AM CDT
Everybody do the stereotype! *dances a little*
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-2
weglad
Aug 8, 09 11:30 AM CDT
Living in a warzone will do that to you. Ask any Vietnam combat veteran. Reply
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+2

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