Drug use soars in Afghanistan

Drug use has doubled in Afghanistan over the last four years with nearly 3% of adults now addicted to heroin and opium, a UN report said today.

The results alarmed relief workers and suggested that even as the West poured billions into programmes to try to wean the Afghan economy off of drug money, opium and heroin have become more entrenched in the lives of ordinary people, creating yet another barrier to international efforts to knock out support for the trade that fuels the Taliban insurgency.