KABUL (SW): A study report released by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics revealed that most drug addicts experience a relapse after recovery.
Salamat Azizmi, the Minister of Counter Narcotic stated that in this research study, reasons behind the relapse were asked from 465 drug addicts among which 347 of them were men while the remaining 118 were women.
She stressed that unemployment, easy access to drugs and friends’ incitation were major reasons behind relapse among drug addicts.
Based on this research, 41% of the addicted interviewees said that their friends’ invitation and incitation were the principle motives behind going back to drugs.
Among other major motives behind the relapse 18% were identified as being lured into drugs by family members and 21% started taking drugs due to unemployment.
The minister added that the research study took two month to complete and was carried out in Kabul, Herat, Kandahar, Balkh, Badakhshan and Nangarhar provinces.
She added that among the addicted interviewees, 52% were illiterate, 20% had primary education 14% had intermediate education while 6% of them had higher educational backgrounds.
Ahmad Jan Naeem, Deputy Minister of Public Health said on the occasion that 101 clinics have been set up across the country to cure drug addicts. He said theses health care centers have the capacity to accommodate and cure over 35000 addicts.
He mentioned that an outstanding number of these addicts (80%-90%) resort back to drugs after kicking the habit and believed the main reasons behind drug addiction were poverty, unemployment, lack of security and mental health problems.
Wasil Noor Mohmand, the Minister of Labor, Social Affairs, Martyrs and Disabled, was also one of the participants in this meeting. He stated that the Ministry rehabilitates drug addicts in society during three stages; however, lack of budget creates challenges for this Ministry in terms of creating job opportunities and treatment.
Based on statistics released by the Ministry of Counter Narcotics, 11% percent of the populations in Afghanistan use some types of narcotic drugs which would be one out of every seven citizen. The statistics also showed that among three million drug addicts in Afghanistan, 7% of them are men, 3% are women and 1% was children.
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