In a remote corner of northern Afghanistan, there's a town where kids are fed pure opium.
In a remote corner of northern Afghanistan, there's a town where kids are fed pure opium. Aziza feeds her four-year-old son, Omaidullah, a lump of pure opium as his 'breakfast.'
"If I don't give him opium he doesn't sleep. And he doesn't let me work," CNN quoted Aziza as saying.
The mother comes from a poor family of carpet weavers in Balkh province. She has no education; no idea of the health risks involved or that opium is addictive.
"We give the children opium whenever they get sick as well," she said.
With no real medical care in these parts and the high cost of medicine, all the families out here know is opium.
Aziza's elderly mother-in-law, Rozigul, rolls a small ball in her fingers and pops it into her mouth with a small smile before passing a piece over to her sister.
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The closest government-run drug rehabilitation center is a four-hour drive away and has only 20 beds and a handful of staff to deal with the epidemic.
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"People use opium as drugs or medicine. If a child cries, they give him opium, if they can't sleep, they use opium, if an infant coughs, they give them opium," he said.
The center is running an outreach program to the areas that are most afflicted.
Source-ANI