AFGHANISTAN: Afghan farmers resist poppy eradication, while bumper crop fuels rise in heroin addiction, say health officials

Poppy eradication starts shortly after dawn in the village of Mishwano, some fifty kilometres south of Jalalabad. Casual workers hired for the day in the city of Jalalabad move through the poppy fields under armed guard, slashing the bulbs with sticks in order to destroy them before they are ready to yield raw opium. The farmers who own the land and who cultivated the poppies look on in anger. They will receive no compensation for their lost crops and many feel they are being victimised for having no choice but to grow poppies. A choice, they believe, forced on them to due lack of aid and reconstruction. "There are no businesses, there are no factories, and there are no projects for us to work on. This is the only way we have to feed our families. This was the only source of bread for farmers, and the government has taken food out of poor people's mouths, " said Karim Mahibullah, after watching his crops being destroyed. Eradication campaigns have met with scant success in Afghanistan, as programmes offering alternative crops or alternative means of livelihood have been difficult to implement, mainly because of security concerns and corruption. "We say to the government, you only care about the poppies, we ask why don't you take care of our orphans, our widows, and rebuild our roads. And why don't you rebuild our destroyed houses. In the name of God, for God's sake, I tell you, the government has done nothing for us in five years," Mahibullah said. As the poppies of Mishwano are destroyed, some 20 kilometres away the farmers of Para village are harvesting theirs. Lutfullah (uses only one name), using a specially made metal blade, carefully extracts raw opium from the poppy bulbs. Opium must be harvested just after the poppy blooms in order to have narcotic potency. He and the other farmers in the area say they will resist any eradication campaign. "During the harvesting, if the government tries to come with an eradication campaign, we are ready to to die, but we will not let the government destroy our poppy fields," he said. On a neighbouring farm Mohammed Gullab moves slowly through his fields of blooming poppies, measuring how far along the blossoms are and when the bulbs might be ready for harvesting. He also says his village has received no aid or reconstruction. "If there is some government aid being sent to the Jalalabad area, we don't see any of it. Charzai (district leader) keeps it for himself, or other government officials keep it for themselves. The elders take the aid, they don't give it to the poor people," Gullab said. The United Nations estimates this year's poppy harvest will again hit record levels. Although prevention and eradication programmes are taking hold in the north of the country, the less secure south is producing even more opium. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Representative Christina Gynna Oguz says the Afghan government faces a difficult task in stopping poppy cultivation, but says a more concerted effort to provide alternative crops or livelihoods for the farmers is needed. "Eradication happens when the prevention campaigns have not been successful. Of course, as such, they are bound to meet with resistance. So, I would say that it's important for the government to be more focused on providing the alternatives for the farmers. And be really strong in this," Oguz said. The yearly increase in the amount of opium harvested in Afghanistan is also having new repercussions within the country. The amount of heroin addicts and drug users is rising at what authorities call an alarming rate, mainly because of the ready availability of drugs. The most recent U.N. report put the amount of drug addicts in Afghanistan at 920,000, four percent of the population. About 150,000 were opium users, and 50,000 heroin addicts. 400,000 were addicted to pharmaceutical drugs. Opium addiction among the poor is spreading due to basic lack of information about the drug. People use it to soothe aching muscles, as a relaxant, or to help babies sleep, without a proper understanding of its addictive nature. At this treatment centre in Jalalabad, which opened in December 2006, 20 patients at a time are treated for heroin addiction and other drug use. Head Doctor Mohammed Samim says there are many reasons for the increase of addicts in Afghanistan. "It's a war torn country, and most of these people became addicted in Iran and also in Pakistan as refugees, and when they returned to Afghanistan they encouraged others to use drugs. In this country there are lots of drugs available. People sell drugs openly in the markets. People are cultivating opium here, and the availability of drugs is the main reason there is a rise in addictions. Our people should stop growing poppies, because by cultivating opium we are destroying our own society," he said. Since opening, his centre has successfully treated and discharged forty-two patients, and provides outpatient counselling once a week to eighty others who travel to Jalalabad from nearby provinces. The men sit quietly, waiting to receive treatment or go through counselling sessions. Mohammed Arzat has only recently been admitted to the centre after returning from Pakistan where he was addicted to heroin for six years. "Other people should not use heroin, it's a very bad thing. It has destroyed the whole world. People should not cultivate this illegal crop," he said.

ITN Source | April 16, 2007

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