Afghan Women Seeking Treatment for Addiction Face Uphill Battle

To better understand the life of an addict in Afghanistan, a recent Global Post piece details Marzia and her trembling on the ninth day of abstinence from heroine. When this 27-year-old mother of 4 was just 14, she married a drug smuggler working between Afghanistan and Iran.

Marzia was often alone while her husband ran drugs and friends introduced her to heroin to numb the pain and calm her nerves while her husband was away. The family lived in Iran for seven years and drugs were easy to come by for a smuggler’s wife.

Today, Marzia is back in Afghanistan trying to kick her habit. Her husband has already married a second wife and is threatening to leave Marzia if she cannot kick her habit. As she puts it plainly: “It’s shameful to be addicted and shameful if he leaves me, that is why I am here.”

Marzia is seeking help at the Sanga Amaj rehabilitation center for the second time in a year. More than 20 women receiving treatment at any time at the center are cared for by two doctors and four nurses. The center supports an additional six social workers who go out into the community to care for women in the home.

Since the center opened in 2007, more than 850 women have received treatment in the 45-day program. According to Muhammad Zafar, deputy minister of counter narcotics, those needing treatment are primarily Afghans returning from Iran and Pakistan.

More than 90 percent of the world’s opium and heroin comes from the poppy fields of Afghanistan and much of it is transported through Pakistan and Iran into Europe by way of the Balkans. Much of the country’s drug problem is fueled by the difficulty in offering an alternative cash crop to impoverished farmers.