Global Pulse Blog

In an anti-drug conference held in Moscow recently, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev called for an a more globally unified effort to end the drug trafficking of opium from Afghanistan and the social problems that are a direct result from its trafficking. With over 90% of the world’s opium originating from Afghanistan, President Medvedev believes that that current efforts by international organizations such as the United Nations, NATO and Shanghai Cooperation Organization, are not enough. Opium poppies are the raw material used to make heroin.   According to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, heroin has created a market worth $65 billion and caters to 15 million addicts world-wide.

The effects of Afghanistan’s 375 ton per year opium and heroin export are also felt at home through direct use and passive exposure such as  second-hand and third-hand exposure.  A new study that will be finalized this summer is expected to show that in Afghanistan 1.5 million people out of a total population of 30 million are addicts and that a quarter of those users are thought to be women and children.

Another study funded by the International Demand Reduction Program sought to determine if there were unwilling addicts exposed to opium by evaluating the indoor environment of the homes of known opium users.  Air, surface, and hair samples from all the inhabitants living in the homes of the opium users tested positive for opium products.  Direct contact and hand-to-mouth transfer from items such as eating utensils, toys, pillows, and bedding may be a significant route of exposure to opium for children.  The long term consequences of this passive exposure on mental, physical and emotional development to the children are unknown.   We should not wait to see what these long-term effects will be and something should be done immediately to put an end to this abuse.

Another theory as to why and how early these addictions begin suggests that the easily accessible opium fills a void that results from lack of access to doctors and medicines. Opium is used to treat physical pains and ailments as well as the psychological pains brought on by decades of war and poverty. One mother described how her children became addicted:

“When my son was born, he had earache. We couldn’t get to a doctor, so I gave him opium to help him get rid of the pain. After my daughter was born, she got stomach aches, and I only had opium to give to her for medicine, so now they’re both addicted.”

Other factors leading to increased use are the high unemployment rate throughout the country and the return of refugees from Iran and Pakistan who became addicts while abroad.

The disagreement about how much criminal groups, insurgents and terrorists are funded by the drug trade has made it more difficult to develop and follow a unified plan to end this problem.  I agree with President Medvedev’s sense of urgency, but how do we begin to put an end the destruction resulting from the opium trade?  Is it better to start from scratch or to work on coordinating the existing agencies that are evaluating the damage and setting up interventions?