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From Our Own Correspondent: Addiction in Afghanistan

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08/05/2013

Addiction in Afghanistan

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Addiction in Afghanistan

What can be done to curb Afghanistan's new wave of heroin abuse?

The ethical dilemmas of reporting on Afghanistan's new heroin addicts. How much should we see of the mess their lives have become?

Pascale Harter introduces a special essay from Darius Bazargan, on the ethical dilemmas of reporting on Afghanistan's new wave of heroin abuse. Making a film in Kabul which followed one of the country's hundreds of thousands of addicts, he witnessed wretched scenes of physical and spiritual degradation. But this would be a dangerous issue to ignore: it's been estimated that around a million people (out of the population of 30 million) have a serious drug problem. Their addiction is worming its way through Afghan society in silence, largely undiscussed and unremarked, as it's considered so shameful. So how much should we - or anyone - see of the mess their lives have become?

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