Avoid Drugs Relapse

 Written by: Waheeda Sabir

According to the information provided by the World Health Organization, about 12% Afghans use drugs among them are women and children too.  using of hashish, opium, heroin, morphine, cocaine, nicotine, sleeping pills, and other drugs could cause various types of diseases

AEPO’s writer/producer has talked to some addicted persons.

A girl from Herat province says: “when I was 11, I started smoking cigarettes with my uncle’s wife and later I used to opium and I when was not getting opium, I had been suffering from dizziness and was quarreling with others.”

Safiullah, a resident of Kabul city says: “I am addicted to heroin and shisha, and I always suffer from body ache, stomach pain asthma bronchitis and nerves weakness.”

A girl from Laghman province says: “my father was addicted to drugs and he caused me and my mother to be addicted too. I suffer from a headache, sore throat and this is my second time that I have come to the hospital for treatment.”

Dr. Abdullah Nusrat, the director of the Khushal Khan Drug Demand Reduction Center, Kabul city says: “Drugs harm nerves and almost all organs of the body. It could cause mental and contiguous diseases like HIV AIDS tuberculosis, respiratory diseases, skin and heart diseases, etc. and if a patient uses too many drugs, it could cause the death of the patient.”

What do people think about drug relapse?

A woman from Badakhshan province says: “I was addicted to drugs and when they treated me in a hospital, I went back home. As my husband is addicted to heroin, and he was smoking at home, I became addicted again.”

A girl from Laghman province says: “I started smoking with my friends and when my mother got aware of my addiction to drugs, she was beating me to stop doing drugs but my friends were encouraging me to do drugs.”

Doctor Nusrat says: “when a person comes back to the environment after treatment, and someone still calls him addicted person, he/she might think that people still know him as an addicted person, he prefers to start using drugs again. The main reason for drug abuse in Afghanistan is the illegal availability of drugs.”

How to stop drug abuse?

A girl from Laghman province says: “A said that after my treatment, my friends encouraged me again to use drugs but my parents took again to the hospital for treatment and they told me that they would provide me everything that I want. They love me very much and promised that I would never use drugs again.”

Doctor Nusrat says: “the addicted person should make a serious decision to stop drug abuse and his/her family should psychologically help him/her and provide him/her any kind facilities and keep him/her away from bad friends.”