Rising heroin abuse in Central Asia raises threat of public health crisis

Robert Ponce 3/29/02

Not only is Central Asia emerging as a favored narcotics transit route, the region also is home to a growing number of drug users, illustrated by the seven-fold increase of heroin addicts in Tajikistan over the past seven years. Regional governments are ill prepared to battle the drug contagion, which poses a serious threat to stable regional development.

Tajikistan represents a microcosm of the greater crisis menacing Central Asia. The number of registered drug abusers in Tajikistan climbed from 823 in 1995 to 6,243 in 2001, according to the United Nations Drug Control and Crime Prevention Program (UNDCP). Experts add the actual number of addicts could be more than 15 times the official figures since the study registered only people who sought treatment.

Of registered abusers, 74 percent were heroin addicts. Prices for the drug in Tajikistan are driven by rising demand, according to a March 22 report by the Asia-Plus news agency. A regular heroin user in Tajikistan needs about 3 grams per day to maintain his or her habit, said Andrei Anishchenko, the chief physician at Tajikistan's national clinical center for narcology. Anishchenko added that the cost of 3 grams of heroin is now over 80 somoni (about $30 US).

Statistics compiled by the state narcological clinic indicate that a majority of drug abusers in Tajikistan are relatively poor. In 2001, 57 percent of registered drug abusers in Tajikistan were unemployed. Some experts say a lack of economic opportunities is fueling drug abuse among young Tajiks, who turn to heroin and other narcotics as an escape from mounting frustration.

Other Central Asian nations are also grappling with an explosive rise in the number of addicts, who appear to be using harder drugs.

In Kyrgyzstan, for example, 82 percent of registered drug addicts in 1991 were hashish smokers, according to Almaz Garifulin of the Kyrgyz State Narcotics Commission. In 2001, 68 percent of abusers were taking opium and heroin, Garifulin said.

Kyrgyzstan had over 5,000 registered drug addicts as of January 2002, Garifulin said. Government statistics show that there were 17.8 addicts in 2001 per 100,000 population, representing a 340 percent increase in abusers since 1991.

Kyrgyz officials say they expect addiction to increase, especially among young people. An overwhelming majority of young people "are well aware of where they can buy drugs," the Interfax news agency quoted Garifulin as saying.

In Uzbekistan, there are now over 20,000 registered drug abusers, according to a March 2 report in Pravda Vostoka. The newspaper indicated that heroin use was rising at an alarming rate. In 2001, heroin represented 44 percent of the 1,069 kilograms of narcotics confiscated by authorities. In 2000, heroin represented only 22.6 percent of all confiscated drugs.

Poppy production in neighboring Afghanistan has been identified as the source of Central Asia's trafficking and addiction problems. Central Asian officials say regional governments lack the resources to stem the flow of drugs out of Afghanistan. And according to recent reports, some governments may actually be involved in trafficking [for additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].

Under a Taliban edict in 2000, poppy production was curtailed. Shipments have resumed in recent months, however, after the US-led anti-terrorism coalition ousted the Taliban. "The cultivation of opium poppy has begun to be restored in some areas [of Afghanistan] ... despite a complete ban imposed by the country's interim government,' said Bakhtiyar Mambetov, a local coordinator in Kyrgyzstan for UN anti-drug programs.

"The main flow of drugs has changed its traditional route. There are good grounds to believe that it [narcotics] passes through precisely Central Asia," Mambetov told Kyrgyz television March 6.

Recently, Iran, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan pledged to cooperate on efforts to inhibit poppy production in Afghanistan, as well as to coordinate anti-trafficking operations. Interdiction and eradication efforts have a mixed record of success, however. [For additional information see the EurasiaNet Recap archive].

Some Central Asian countries have trumpeted statistics showing a rising amount of confiscated drugs. For example, Tajikistan's Drug Control Agency said heroin seizures in 2001 rose by 206 percent to about 4 metric tons. Yet, lacking precise figures for overall heroin production, it is difficult to gauge whether Tajik drug agents are gaining or losing ground against traffickers.

According to one Russian estimate, about 2,000 metric tons of heroin have been stockpiled in northern Afghanistan for shipment to Western markets. Meanwhile, the UNDCP estimated Afghanistan's 2000 opium crop at 3,600 metric tons.

Rising heroin abuse has the potential to further destabilize a region already experiencing economic and political turmoil. Sue Simon, Associate Director of the Open Society Institute's International Harm Reduction Development Program, says drug abuse has already damaged Central Asia's social fabric. Simon added that rising instances of drug addiction could be a harbinger of a wider public health crisis, involving the spread of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and other infectious diseases.

Central Asia as a region is prone to the rapid proliferation of drug-related disease. "While it is hard to make sweeping generalizations about a region as diverse as Central Asia, we have seen the replication of precarious trends throughout the republics of Central Asia," Simon said.

Officials say drugs are also a factor in rising crime rates. Given that many users are poor, and drug prices are rising, addicts often must resort to crime to support their habits, experts say. In Kyrgyzstan's Osh region, for instance, officials report that drug-related crimes rose 10 percent in 2001 compared with the previous year's statistics. During the first two months of 2002, there were 14 percent more drug-related crimes than during over same period in 2001.

Editor's Note: Robert Ponce is a researcher/reporter for EurasiaNet based in New York.

Posted March 29, 2002 © Eurasianet