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KABUL (Pajhwok): A 29-year-old drug-addicted youth who came to Afghanistan all the way from the US said the rehabilitation process in Afghanistan was easy compared to that in the US.
Habibullah Hamid, 29, a resident of Kabul Province who moved to the United States 24 years ago, arrived in Afghanistan six months ago for drug rehabilitation and is currently hospitalized at Kabul’s Jangarak Hospital.
Habibullah was a student at the University of California and worked part-time in a hotel in the city.
He said: “I started smoking cannabis when I was 17 years old. I would go out with a few friends and smoke cannabis. Sometimes we would drink alcohol as well.”
He said marijuana and alcohol are allowed in the United States and available to everyone.
He said his brother also used drugs and alcohol, but he made sure to stay within appropriate limits.
“I always thought about quitting drugs one day because if I didn’t stop, I would get worse and worse.”
He said: “I probably wouldn’t be able to get rid of my drug addiction in the United States because drugs are so easy to buy and can be found everywhere, so my brother decided to take me to Afghanistan because I was far away from him and there was no one to sell drugs to and I couldn’t buy them anywhere.”
After less than six months of treatment, he felt much better and had the confidence to control himself and quit drugs.
Habibullah praised Afghanistan’s drug treatment approach and asked some other young people to start drug treatment.
But Habibullah is not the only one whose life is overshadowed by drug addiction and who is seeking peace and freedom from it to regain his life. Harun Ahmadi, 27, is also working hard to kick his drug habit.
He said: “I got addicted to drugs for seven years because of some bad friends. It started with marijuana, then hookah and finally opium. I tried to quit in the past, but I would start smoking again during holidays.”
Harun went to school until he was 11 years old, when he became a mechanic’s trainee and lived a very privileged life.
“I had a good life before I started taking drugs, but after I started taking drugs, I gave up everything. Drug addiction had a great impact on my life. My body became weak and my life was ruined. But now I have decided to quit drugs, earn halal bread, get married and live a peaceful life.”
He said he gave drug buyers 300 Afghanis a day.
Nazar Dad, another drug addict who was treated at the hospital, said, “I was injured while on duty and was treated at the hospital. But when I went to Badakhshan province, I couldn’t find medicine there, so they gave me opium and my condition got better. Slowly, I started smoking opium and hookah for two years, then I had a quarrel with my family and my condition worsened.”
He also called drug use illegal and said: “I have personally experienced that drug use will destroy everything, your family, children, everyone will beat you. Now I am 100% determined to quit drug addiction and start my life again.”
He said, “After 45 days of treatment, my physical condition has improved.” The respondents expressed their appreciation for the doctors and hospital staff, and said that with the support of the doctors and hospital staff, his physical condition has improved.
It is worth mentioning that the 450-bed Jangalak Drug Rehabilitation Hospital has admitted 260 drug addicts.
Mohammad Wamq Sharifi, one of the doctors at the hospital, said that currently 260 drug addicts are being admitted to the hospital.
He pointed out that the quality of drug rehabilitation treatment has been continuously improved over the past three years. Each drug addict is hospitalized for 45 days. If he cannot quit his drug addiction during this period, he will have to stay in the hospital for 90 days.
In the past, drug addicts, after completing treatment, were referred to the Ministry of Labour and Community Affairs to learn a skill, but after completing the vocational training courses, they returned to the streets.
He added: “Since the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior has set up camps in some parts of Kandahar and Kabul, drug addicts also learn skills during treatment.”
Health Ministry spokesman Sharafat Zaman said there are currently 61 drug rehabilitation hospitals across the country, where 20,000 drug addicts, including women and children, have received treatment.
He said 55,000 drug addicts, including women and children, had been rehabilitated last year.
He said that according to a 2017 survey, there were 3.5 million drug users in the country, including 85,000 women.
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