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KABUL (SW): There are around three million drug addicts in Afghanistan, some 100, 000 of which are children and around 650, 00 women, officials said on Thursday.
This was noted here at the inauguration ceremony of the Center for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Addicted Women and Children in Kabul. The facility has space to accommodate some 150 patients at a time.
Ferozuddin Feroz, Minister for Public Health told the gathering that campaign against narcotics would be expanded to the national and regional level. He underlined that as long as poppy cultivation is not eliminated completely curbing drug addiction is not possible.
Feroz remarked that women and children in particular are vulnerable in this regard as they have limited or no access to treatment and rehabilitation.
One of the addicted woman told Salam Watandar that her husband first made her addicted and then abandoned her along with their three children. She was happy to move to this new facility from her former roadside shelter in the city.
Salamat Azimi, Minister for Counter Narcotics told the moot that Afghanistan alone cannot eradicate this menace. She urged the international community to translate their pledges into actions.
ENDS
