Afghanistan is still infamous as an exporter of opium. But the
opium used within the country is just as wild. It’s not just the opium growing
farmers that also abuse it but even women and unbelievably children. There is
perhaps one million addicts in the country. And more than 600,000 of them are under 15. Some
children under five years old are given opium by their mothers. A three year
old named Saed Is an Opium addict. Without it he becomes restless. His mother
Zarbibi shares her Childs condition. She has been an addict for the past four
years.

Zabibi routinely blows opium into her sons face to keep him
quiet. She says that’s the only way she knows how to free herself so she can
work. Whenever she has chores at home she gives her son opium so he can stay
calm. She says she also gives him opium so he can sleep. But when she realized he
became an addict she regretted it.

Another mother told a similar story but would not give her
name. Her five year old daughter inherited her addiction in the womb. And it
did not stop there. She continued to breast feed her daughter with opium laced
milk and she blows opium smoke into her daughters face for her to stop crying. And
what makes things worse is that there is only limited available.

There is only one drug rehabilitation center in the whole
area and it does not have the recourses, expertise, or budget to deal with the
growing numbers of users. Only 25 out of 13,000 receive help every month. Doctors
say the situations are worse in the villages, but it is too far for many to
come for treatment, especially children. Opium is used instead of medicine over
there. There is so much attention being paid to Afghanistan’s export of opium
but only few talk about the drugs that stay within the country.