The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime says that traditional drugs still account for the highest level of consumption in Afghanistan. According to the organization’s latest assessment, cannabis accounts for 46 percent of drug use, opium 19 percent, Tablet K 11 percent, and methamphetamine or crystal meth 7 percent among men in Afghanistan. The report states that patterns of drug use in Afghanistan remain dominated by traditional substances, while at the same time, the use of synthetic drugs and the misuse of opioid medications are increasing. This new assessment is published as the Taliban have repeatedly claimed that they have eliminated the cultivation, production, and trafficking of drugs in Afghanistan. The United Nations had previously confirmed that drug cultivation has declined, but that the use of synthetic drugs has increased by about 50 percent. The organization also says that assessments show there are still serious gaps in the distribution, access, quality, and gender coverage of treatment services for these individuals.
In its latest report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime wrote that nearly two-thirds of addiction treatment centers in Afghanistan provide services only to men. According to the office, only 17.1 percent of these centers are dedicated to women, and among the 32 provinces assessed, just over one-third provide services to women. The report’s findings also point to a shortage of professional specialized staff and the necessary infrastructure for treating people affected by drug use in Afghanistan.
In this report, the United Nations has stated that the situation of drug use in Afghanistan shows that many people affected by addiction view continued drug use as a direct consequence of poverty, unemployment, and severe economic pressures, and associate it with livelihood hardship and the inability to meet basic living needs.
Vulnerability of Men
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its new report that drug use is more prevalent among men who are unemployed or have low levels of education. According to the report, men who used drugs in the past year are usually married, live with their families, and are employed or seeking work, but they are younger, more likely to face unemployment or underemployment, have a higher likelihood of diagnosed health problems, and are more likely to self-medicate compared with those who do not use drugs.
Vulnerability of Women
The report states that the average age of women is 33 years. Seventy-two percent are married, and about 6 percent are widows. According to the findings, 76 percent of women are unemployed, and their employment is mainly limited to activities such as teaching, tailoring, and cleaning, with only a small number working in private businesses or the health sector. Women’s access to treatment and health services is reported to be limited, and data on drug use among women is also very scarce, to the extent that it cannot be considered representative of the overall situation of women in the country.
Changing Patterns of Use
The organization reported that cannabis remains the most widely used substance. According to the organization, opium use has declined and has been replaced by prescription drugs such as painkillers, which is likely a result of the ban on poppy cultivation in 2023. The report states that drug use varies across provinces and urban areas, and while cannabis and opium remain major concerns, consumption patterns differ by location. Tablet K, methamphetamine, and pregabalin are more prominent in some areas, such as Kabul, indicating different drug market profiles across regions and cities.
According to the report, the use of Tablet K is higher in eastern provinces, while methamphetamine use is more frequently observed in the western part of the country. The organization said these regional differences in perceptions of methamphetamine and Tablet K use may stem from different naming conventions or varying patterns of methamphetamine consumption, as respondents may refer to the same substance by different names or forms.
High Costs
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said that drug use, especially methamphetamine, imposes a heavy financial burden on families, sometimes exceeding the daily income of a laborer. The organization said that among men who used drugs in the past 30 days, about half used cannabis, and a significant share used opium, Tablet K, and methamphetamine.
According to the report, nearly one in eight people who used drugs in the past 30 days used multiple substances simultaneously. The findings show that the amount paid for substances such as methamphetamine and opium likely accounts for a large share of daily income, or even more than a full day’s wage for many workers. The report states that the cost of one day of methamphetamine use may be equivalent to 138 percent of a daily wage for an unskilled laborer or 67 percent of the wage of a skilled worker.
Policy Recommendations
In this report, the United Nations emphasized the establishment of robust and gender sensitive monitoring systems to track consumption trends and added that expanding evidence-based treatment services for men and women would help reduce drug use. The report also states that responses to drug use should be integrated with social protection and employment generation systems, and that prevention programs tailored to local drug markets in different provinces should be developed.
Design and Implementation of the Assessment
The United Nations said that the study was initially designed as a national household assessment but faced serious field challenges. According to the report, the Taliban imposed restrictions such as requiring participation in surveys at mosques instead of homes, which disrupted sampling.
The report states that due to severe restrictions on interviewing women, they accounted for only 9.8 percent of the sample, which made a detailed analysis of women’s situation impossible. Data from some provinces, particularly in the south and east, were excluded due to poor quality, and the results largely reflect men in 21 provinces.
Key Findings of the Report
The findings show that men who use drugs, compared with others, are less likely to have full employment, have lower levels of education, and are more likely to suffer from physical illnesses and self-medicate. According to the report, cannabis was the most commonly used substance over a lifetime and in the past year. Opium or heroin ranks second in lifetime use but dropped to third place in use over the past year, replaced by prescription drugs such as sedatives.
The report states that 46 percent of men believe cannabis is the most commonly used substance in their area, and that in Kabul, the use of K pills and pregabalin has increased significantly. The report interviewed 10,286 people, of whom 9,279 were men, accounting for 90.2 percent, and 1,007 were women, accounting for 9.8 percent.
Limitations and Field Challenges
The report notes that only 9.8 percent of respondents were women. Cultural, social, and security constraints limited women’s participation in surveys. Data related to women were limited and not suitable for extensive statistical analysis.
Data collection was not uniform across different parts of the country, and data quality was reported to be weaker in the south and east. Some interviews were conducted outside household settings, including mosques, treatment centers, and transit points. Afghanistan lacks a comprehensive, up-to-date list of villages, and the country’s population is reported in the report as approximately 41 million.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
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