Publish dateThursday 2 November 2017 - 16:53
Story Code : 152453
Uruzgan women still give kids opium to silence them
Women in some areas of central Uruzgan province still feed their children opium to make them sleep, causing the infants serious damage, including death.

AVA- Uruzgan is one of the provinces where poppy is widely cultivated. However, the illegal crop has also helped improved the economic situation of the people. Some families administer the drug to their children too.

The counternarcotics department has conducted some public awareness programmes as part of a campaign against poppy cultivation. But the drive has been unproductive.

The latest campaign was launched at the Malalai High School in Tirinkot, the capital of the province, on Wednesday. The event was attended by women from the city and a number of districts.

Local officials requested women not to allow their men to grow poppies.

Deputy Governor Abdul Wahid Patan told Pajhwok Afghan News that poppy not only affected youth but women were also addicted to it.

He urged all women to prevent their husbands from cultivating the illicit crop and discharge their responsibility of building a healthy society.

Counternarcotics Director Abdul Zahir Salari said around 15,000 people were addicted to drugs in Uruzgan, including hundreds of women and children, due to poppy cultivation.

A number of females said some women worked side by side with their men to grow poppies. Some children, helping their parents in harvesting poppy latex, also become addicts.

Nasrin, a student of the Malalai High School, told Pajhwok the use of opium had become a tradition in the province and even women used it to silent children.

Marwa, a resident of Tirinkot, verified most of women in the province gave their children opium in the winter. Some of children who were given opium have died.

Dr. Ziaur Rahman Niazi, Uruzgan Civil Hospital director, confirmed many women in the province gave their children opium to silence them or treat their diseases.

He claimed receiving five children, who encountered health problems due to opium consumption, each month. Widespread cultivation and lack of public awareness is the main cause of the problem, he concluded.

Source : Afghan Voice Agency(AVA)
https://avapress.com/vdcji8evtuqeixz.92fu.html
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