Opium Trade

Kayan - Baglan province, Afghanistan, 1992 An opium addict at drug clinic. With opium easily and cheaply available the number of drug addicts has been rising over the last years. At a drug detoxification clinik in the remote village of Kayan, the only one of its kind in the country, help is provided to patients who remain locked up and stay under medical surveilance. Wearing prison uniforms, the patience it is impossible for patience to walk to town to buy opium. Afghanistan remains today the largest producer of raw opium in the world. Thousands of tons are harvested in the remote northern mountains and southern plains. Opium is the raw material to produce heroin, one of the most deadly drugs. Afghan farmers though claim, that no other crop allows them to survive in the harsh environment of the Hindokush mountains, due to a lack of irrigation and fertilizer. Opium grows best in dry high altitude soil.