14 June 2010 - Nafas Gul hides her face behind her long black veil, while she speaks of her suffering and shame.

From Iran where he had gone in search of a job, her husband came back addicted to drugs—a dependence he soon transmitted to his wife and relatives.

The 23-year-old widow recalls her ordeal: “Some four or five years ago, I started taking opium. I then smoked heroin, and now take crystal heroin. Two years ago, my husband died. The drugs made him sick and weak.”

Nafas Gul lives with her mother-in-law and her sister, who endures the same addiction.

Both visit each day the assistance centre set up by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Islam Qala, at the border with Iran. The facility offers services ranging from primary healthcare to clean syringe distribution.

Sayed Azizullah is project coordinator for the Khatiz organization for rehabilitation, an NGO that implements the programme for the UN agency. He has been the director of the centre since it started its activities in January 2010. With a team of eight members, including one doctor and one nurse, they attempt to mitigate health risks due to drug consumption.

“We have a team of peer educators who go to zero point (the entry point into Afghanistan) and encourage addicted returnees to come visit the centre. Once they arrive here, they are registered by a team of two social workers who also provide counselling,” says Mr Azizullah.

And the figures show the centre responds to a need in the community. Since January, 864 drug users have come to seek treatment, counselling or simply to drink tea and take shelter for the day. Nafas Gul and her sister are termed as ‘regular clients.’

Nafas Gul explains, “it is very painful to fight the addiction and almost impossible to overcome it outside a clinic with beds and doctors.”

Maulawi Gulham Nabi, a mullah who leads Friday prayers at the local mosque, confirms “we need a clinic, where people can fight the addiction.”

But the problem is wider, and he also calls on the Government to take the matter in its hands.

“Finding heroin is so easy here. We need the police to arrest drug dealers.”

According to the mullah, the Government’s partners are also expected to contribute fully “to reintegrate former addicts in the society, we want the international community to launch projects that create job opportunities.”

UNODC, which has planned its actions over three years, will need further resources to continue the activity and develop.

By Fraidoon Poya and Henri Burgard,UNAMA