Drug Use Has Increased in Afghanistan, U.N. Report Says

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The last several years of poverty, conflict and
widely available opium are taking a toll on the Afghan population,
with roughly 800,000 Afghan adults now using opium, heroin and other
illicit drugs, a jump from five years ago, according to a study by
the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

In a report released Monday, the United Nations detailed the results
of a study to determine the prevalence of drug use and found a jump
in the use of every type of drug, with heroin use rising the most
sharply, making Afghanistan one of five countries with the highest
percentage of drug users.

"Many Afghans seem to be taking drugs as a kind of self-medication
against the hardships of life," said Antonio Maria Costa, the
executive director of the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime.

The study found that close to 7 percent of the adult population of 14
million were drug users, defined as someone who regularly used opium,
heroin, opiate derivatives or tranquilizers both in the last year and
in the past 30 days. Of those, 90 percent said they were in need of
drug treatment.

The report was a collaboration of the United Nations, the Afghan
Counter-Narcotics Ministry and the Public Health Ministry. It
reflects more than 5,000 interviews nationwide, including in conflict
areas, although the report notes that interviews were not possible in
all districts of Helmand Province, which has seen particularly heavy
fighting this year. The method is the same one used in other
countries where the United Nations surveys drug use.

The report also found that the most commonly used drug was opium,
with 80 percent of those surveyed saying they had used it in the last
year and most saying they were regular users. Of all drug users, 30
percent had taken heroin in their lives and nearly all of those said
they had taken the drug within a month of speaking to United Nations
data collectors.

In other Afghanistan news, 14 detainees were released over the
weekend, 12 of them from the Detention Facility in Parwan, which is
run by the American military. The other two were released from an
Interior Ministry detention facility.

The Afghan government took credit for the releases, saying they were
following through on one of the promises of the national consultative
peace jirga that met earlier this month, said Fazil Ahmad Faqiryar,
deputy attorney general and a member of the committee reviewing detainee cases.

But the American military said that the committee did not have
jurisdiction over Afghans held in American detention facilities and
that the releases were part of "a structured process" of review by a
military board.

President Hamid Karzai formed the committee to look into cases in
which detainees were held without sufficient evidence to try them in
court and those involving opponents of the government. The commission
is headed by the justice minister.