28,000 drug addicts treated across the country in the past year

The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) says since the Islamic Emirate took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, 28,000 drug addicts have been treated or are undergoing treatment.

Spokesmen of the Ministry of Interior, Kabul Municipality and the Ministry of Public Health held a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday and reported back on the achievements of the Islamic Emirate in the fight against narcotics.

Sharaf Zaman, the spokesman for the MoPH, said thousands of drug addicts are currently being treated in 60 treatment centers across the country.

“Over the past year, 28,000 addicts have been treated and there are thousands of addicts being treated in our hospitals,” said Zaman.

According to MoPH figures, 89,000 children and women are also addicted to drugs.

Abdul Nafi Takour, the spokesman for the Ministry of Interior, stated that a survey has been started to determine the extent of cultivation, production and trafficking of narcotics and that no one will be allowed to cultivate and produce narcotics in the country.

“The ministry from its budget itself allocated 745,000 afghanis to do this survey,” said Takour.

According to Takour, 82,000 addicts have been rounded up from across the country, 26,850 of them from Kabul.

The ministry added that in the past year, 4,210 operations against drug cultivation and trafficking have been conducted and 5,051 people have been arrested as a result of these operations.

“There have been 4,210 operations in order to eradicate narcotics across the country, and 5,051 suspects have been arrested,” he added.

Meanwhile, Nematullah Barakzai, Kabul Municipality’s spokesman said that the biggest gathering center of drug addicts [Pole Sokhta] in Kabul has been cleaned out and restored.

According to Barakzai, 375,000 metric tons of garbage have been removed from Kabul’s Pole Sokhta area.