ADDICTS, a generation lost to Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan
There are no hard statistics on the number of heroin addicts in Afghanistan. Nevertheless, what is known is that since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001 that number has grown to dizzying heights. Heroin comes from opium, a substance which for years Afghanistan has been the world’s principal provider. It is estimated that 90% of the world’s heroin consumption originates from this country’s growing fields. In Kabul, the majority of addicts take refuge in the Russian cultural center, now decrepit in the eastern side of the capital. Besides taking their heroin fix here, they live among these broken-down buildings in conditions of extreme filth and misery while the government and authorities remain passive. The only visitors are the few doctors that arrive every Saturday to hand out hypodermic needles and test the addicts for HIV. Not wishing to be quoted, they do recognize that Aids cases are rising–they try to convince the addicts not to share needles. But there is a total lack of knowledge among the users and we are reminded of the serious problems the Western world had with heroin use in the 60’s and 70’s. The photographs were taken during the months of July-October 2008 in the Old Russian cultural center of Kabul.
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by anthropographia
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