All language subtitles for BBC.Blood.Smack.And.Tears.Afghanistans.Heroin.Hell.720p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

Afghanistan. This country is the
world's biggest heroin producer.

This programme contains scenes which
some viewers may find upsetting.

90% of all opiate drugs
come from here.

But now it's one of
the worst consumers

of illegal narcotics anywhere.

The addiction situation
in Afghanistan

is one of the most disastrous.

We need to act now.

The nation's drug habit
is tearing society apart...

life by life.

Tahir Qadiry is a London-based
Afghan journalist

with all the connections
on the ground.

This is one of the unstable places
in the north of Afghanistan.

Now he's back home to find out
why this is happening

and investigate the heroin epidemic

that's destroying
Afghanistan from within.

Kabul, Afghanistan.

From a distance
this city looks beautiful.

But Kabul,
like Afghanistan as a whole,

is suffering from an epidemic
of hard drug addiction.

More than a million Afghans
are now problem drug users -

proportionately
the highest figure in the world -

and that number is rising fast.

Music and dancing,

but this is no party.

These men are all heroin addicts.

They're attending The Nejat Centre,

a charity devoted to helping
drug users recover.

Tahir has come here to try to
understand their world of addiction.

Jawad is just 18 years old, but he's
been hooked on heroin for 10 years.

His uncle introduced him to drugs
when he was a small child

to make him work harder on the land.

IN TRANSLATION

Babrak is 26.

He used to smoke hashish, but got
addicted to heroin two years ago,

after some friends
gave him some to try.

Babrak's a bit like
an older brother to Jawad

as they try to make their way
through rehab.

Despite their very different
social classes,

both well understand the realities
of hard drug abuse in Afghanistan.

But just how bad is it?

Every day, the Nejat Centre's
Outreach Team go into Kabul

to try and bring
basic social and medical care

to the city's drug addicts.

IN TRANSLATION

The team drives down
to the Kabul River,

an area where addicts
are known to congregate

to buy and take their heroin.

This is the centre
of the capital city.

But the Kabul River
is like an open sewer,

its banks host to human misery
and degradation.

This is a wretched place.

RETCHING COUGH

The Outreach Team give
basic medical care...

..cleaning the open sores
and abscesses of the junkies.

They also offer food, clothes
and advice on rehabilitation...

To try and prevent the spread of HIV
and other blood-borne diseases,

they give out clean syringes...

..and collect
the hundreds of used ones

that litter the riverbank.

I've always come to Kabul
but I've never looked at

this side of Kabul,
at this river, really.

I mean, I've walked quite a lot
on that side, which is so beautiful.

But on this side,
it's completely a different world.

With lots and lots
of these drug addicts,

sleeping here, eating here.

I mean, people in Kabul, I assume
no-one really looks at it,

and that's really, you know,
the dark side of the city.

Unemployment here is almost 40%,
and is a major reason

many of the heroin addicts
say they use drugs.

It isn't just limited
to the poor and uneducated.

This man holds a university degree

and had once worked
as a hospital manager.

There's a lot of people,

lots of educated people,
that they are taking drugs.

And they are all about jobs,

because they don't have jobs

so, if you take drugs,
you will be calm,

you will find relaxation.

So when he got once,

so you become a junkie.

How do you feel sitting
under this bridge?

I...

When I sit under this bridge,
I feel very, very bad.

Very bad.

As bad as
I can't explain it for you.

I don't have any words for you

to say when I sit here how I feel.

I am... I am ready to die.

Dying is better than
to sit under this bridge.

It's so sad,
when you look at the river

and also at the people,
when you hear their stories,

they're all painful
and I don't know,

sometimes I feel like
one of them could have been me

or anyone else, you know?

Because of unemployment
and because of lots of...

You know, the decades of war,

just hanging around here
and taking drugs.

But for the hardcore addicts

places like this aren't just
somewhere to sit and get high.

It's where they live.

Suddenly, there's a commotion.

The police arrive and they start
kicking and threatening

the crowd of addicts.

Throughout this, a NATO
observation blimp hovers above.

Despite pledges to tackle
Afghanistan's drugs trade,

when foreign troops arrived in 2001,
results have been very mixed.

They've concentrated
on fighting Taliban insurgents,

often turning a blind eye
to narcotics

fearing alienating
a rural population

who rely on opium farming
to survive,

and opium is the raw material
for making heroin.

The collective trauma of more than
three decades of extreme violence

is another reason
Afghans turn to drugs.

A few days later,
and Tahir's meeting Jawad again

near his home
in a run-down part of Kabul.

Drug addiction destroys families,

ruining the lives of
those close to them,

as well as the addicts themselves.

Jawad's father is dead.

His disabled mum is dealing with
her son's problems on her own.

IN TRANSLATION

Jawad's mum is desperate
for him to quit,

but is also so concerned about him
stealing to buy his heroin

that she actually supports
his drug habit by begging.

SHE SPEAKS ARABIC

All this old woman
really wants from life and God

is for her son to get clean.

But Jawad is coming down
and will soon be in pain,

and she loves him
too much to allow that.

She needs to help him.

So, yet again,
she gets Jawad to push her out

onto the streets of Kabul to beg
for money to feed his drug habit.

ENGINE STARTS AND REVS

Money isn't a problem for Jawad's
friend and fellow addict, Babrak.

He comes from a well-to-do family,

but has found heroin to be
one of life's great levellers.

Babrak used to be a gym instructor

in a bodybuilding club
before he got into drugs.

Now, thanks to the heroin, he's just
a shadow of his former self.

To show Jawad the possible
consequences of his heroin habit,

Tahir's taking him down
to the Kabul River

so he can see the horrific reality
of that place.

It's where Jawad could easily end up
if he doesn't beat drugs.

But, as Tahir and Jawad
get closer to the drug users,

they start backing off
and waving the camera away.

It's clear they're not happy
with being filmed again.

Well, I think...

Yeah, so, I think the situation
doesn't look really good,

especially cos some of them
don't like to be filmed

and some of them, I think,
they are not living here,

they only come for smoking,

so therefore
the situation may escalate.

I think it's best for us to leave.

Jawad?

Widespread heroin use has rocketed
here in the past ten years.

But opium, the raw material
from which heroin is refined,

has been around in Afghanistan
for centuries.

Then, as now, people used opium
as a kind of medical cure-all.

Tahir's contacts have arranged
for him to meet some opium users

in a very old and historical
back-street neighbourhood.

These traditional Turkmen
carpet weavers take the drug

to ease their back pain
and help them work longer hours.

The change in just over a decade
in the way Afghans consume drugs

is still being understood.

Many experts link it to heroin
being more readily available -

it's now being refined from
raw opium in Afghanistan itself.

Despite billions of dollars spent

fighting cultivation
and trafficking,

about 90% of the world's illegal
opiate supply comes from here.

Many people hoping to escape
their problems turn to drugs,

simply because they're cheap
and easy to get hold of.

Traditionally,
what we tend to argue

is that the demand
causes the supply.

What we have forgotten, though,

is that the supply by itself
creates demand.

And that's what we are witnessing
now in this part of the world,

Afghanistan
and neighbouring countries,

where the addiction rates
are going up tremendously.

There was no demand in the past

but, because of
the production locally

and the trafficking
across the borders,

you create
an enormous demand potential

within this part of the world.

To find out more about
supply and demand,

Tahir's leaving Kabul
and flying to northern Afghanistan.

95% of Afghanistan's opium poppies

are grown in the south and west
of the country.

Both dangerous areas
where the insurgency is strong.

But Tahir is heading to Balkh,
one of several northern provinces

officially deemed "poppy free"

due to government
eradication efforts.

This is one of the unstable places
in the north of Afghanistan

and in the past,
these, you know, across the road,

they were the poppy fields and the
farmers used to cultivate poppies.

Even now, there are rumours
that they could be cultivating,

but it could be in private.

Although local heroin production
has been all but stamped out,

there is still an active trade
in narcotics.

This is one of the key
drug-trafficking routes north

to Russia, Europe and beyond.

And the dealers are making
more money than ever.

It's a high-risk business.

Local contacts fix Tahir a meeting
with a heroin dealer

who has just survived
an assassination attempt

at the hands of rival gangsters.

He's been shot twelve times.

So, is the drugs game
really worth the risk?

Afghanistan's rated as one of the
most corrupt countries in the world,

partly due to the vast sums of money

generated by
the illegal drugs trade.

So, what about law enforcement?

Tahir's going out
with the paramilitary

Northern Border Police.

They operate as a land and air force

to combat drug production
and trafficking.

Both the Taliban and local warlords

finance their operations
through the heroin trade.

Afghan drug cartels
are heavily armed.

Taking them on
can be a deadly business.

Afghan officials
increasingly realise

tackling both trafficking
and addiction

should be at the heart of efforts

to improve the country's
long-term security.

Back in Kabul,
it's getting towards evening

and Jawad needs to buy
his daily fix of heroin.

He says Tahir can accompany him
to better understand what life

is like for a heroin addict.

Because it could be dangerous
to follow him on foot

through the dark streets,
Jawad travels in a car with Tahir.

The car then gets stuck in Kabul's
notorious rush-hour traffic,

and the later it gets, the worse
Jawad's drug cravings become.

He disappears into the night.

For his own safety,
Tahir stays near the car.

Despite his youth,
Jawad is an experienced drug user

and knows exactly
where to find the dealers.

Jawad takes Tahir to a park
that's frequented by drug users.

First of all, he smokes
some of the heroin off tinfoil

to get an immediate hit.

Another addict comes over and ties
his arm to help raise a vein

so Jawad can inject
the remaining heroin.

Then he starts
a more elaborate procedure,

preparing to inject himself
for a longer-lasting effect.

But, suddenly,
Jawad starts to panic.

He's somehow managed to lose
his packet of heroin

and starts frantically
searching the parkland.

Well, he can't give up. Let's go.

Despite Tahir's pleas,
Jawad insists on staying behind

to try to find his missing drugs.

The Afghan government's entire
annual health budget for treating

the country's one million
drug addicts is £1.3 million.

This works out at around
£1.20 per addict, per year.

Jawad consumes heroin worth about
three times that every single day.

Despite the misery
caused by drug use,

treatment isn't a budget priority
for the cash-strapped government.

The Regional Hospital
in Mazar-e-Sharif

in Balkh Province is typical
of the facilities on offer.

Its specialist wing
for treating drug addiction

runs an intensive therapy
and de-tox programme

and can treat 50 patients at a time.

They do what they can,
but in Balkh Province alone,

the authorities estimate there are
over 85,000 problem drug users.

Over 120,000 Afghan women
are drug addicts.

But ignorance of the risks
means their children

and even babies can also
develop drug problems.

The baby will have to go through

painful withdrawal symptoms
to get better.

But other children
are also at serious risk.

An outreach team from the Hospital

is visiting a so-called
problem family

in the run-down suburbs
of Mazar-e-Sharif.

They, too, have a little baby.

Because of the shame of addiction,
affected families

can find themselves
isolated from their community.

We are just going to visit
a family

that the whole family
are drug users.

But, because there is still
a stigma attached to using drugs,

we need to keep a very low profile.

The mother smokes heroin every day.

Her teenage son
also has a history of using.

Her husband is ashamed of them both.

But the doctors are especially
concerned about the new baby

being exposed to drugs
through her mother's heroin fumes.

A week later,

the medics went back
to do some tests.

Their worst fears had come true -

the baby had become addicted from
inhaling her mother's heroin smoke.

Afghanistan now had one more
little drug addict to contend with.

Back in Kabul,

the one-time child addict Jawad

is still trying
to beat his heroin habit.

DOCTOR SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Both he and Babrak are back
at the Nejat Centre

attending another therapy session.

Everyone here in rehab
has a different story

but they've all ended up
in the same place -

addicted to drugs
and desperate for help.

IN TRANSLATION:

Their aim now is to secure a place
on the detox programme,

where they can go cold turkey
and try to quit for good.

But to win a place
on the detox regime,

the addicts here
have to show doctors

they've significantly reduced
their heroin intake.

After the therapy sessions,
the addicts are enjoying lunch...

..when, out of the blue,
Jawad gets a phone call...

JAWAD SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

..and he falls apart.

JAWAD SPEAKS TEARFULLY

It was his sister calling from
his home town in Badakhshan -

she'd found out from their mother
that he was finally in rehab.

He's neither seen nor heard from her
for seven years,

since he was disowned by his
extended family for being an addict.

And suddenly,
the loneliness and disgrace

of his situation is overwhelming.

Jawad's uncle
introduced him to drugs

when he was just eight years old.

The uncle is now clean, but the
damage he's done is plain to see.

For Tahir, who lives
with his family in safety in London,

the tragedy of Jawad's life
in Afghanistan

is suddenly too much to bear.

It was a very emotional scene
and I don't know really...

Sometimes it's really hard,
you know,

to understand someone and to...

You know, sometimes, living, you
know, outside, we feel so blessed.

But then, look at that guy.
I mean, he's not to blame.

And he has spoken to his sister
after seven years.

After, you know, he hasn't seen her.

And then, he's not to blame.

He was just saying that his uncle is
to blame, who has quit -

he is living in a luxurious life.
and look at this boy!

I don't know.

But it is possible to recover
from drug addiction.

Aziz is a social worker

who helps recovering addicts
from the Balkh Clinic.

He is himself a former junkie.

Beating drug addiction is always
a personal struggle.

A few days later,
and the boys have managed

to secure their coveted place
in the detox regime.

Both have apparently
reduced their daily heroin dosage

and are ready to take
the next step -

quitting for good.

It's a bit like joining the army.

The addicts are all having
their heads shaved

while joking nervously

in anticipation of the collective
struggles ahead.

THEY CHATTER IN OWN LANGUAGE

Coming off heroin
is an extremely painful process.

An addict's nervous system
gets used to being numbed on drugs.

So withdrawal becomes progressively
more agonising as the body rebels

and the cravings become
overpowering.

THEY CHATTER

The addicts are searched for
concealed drugs...

..and then go up to the dormitory
to detox for the next 72 hours.

It isn't going to be easy.

One day in,
and things seem to be going well...

..although it's clearly a struggle.

Looking at the bigger picture,

there are fears the sheer scale
of the drug problem could further

destabilise this country. This
year, foreign powers are completing

their military pull-out and reducing
investment across Afghanistan.

This poses enormous challenges
for a government

which knows that it will have
a tremendous fiscal gap already,

I mean, post 2014, and now has

an added burden
on its public health budget

with an addiction population
which is just out of control.

That by itself will pose
enormous economic problems

for this new situation in which
this country finds itself.

And we need to help
our Afghan brothers and sisters

to cope with that,
because alone, by themselves,

they will not be able to do so.

The bitter Afghan winter
sweeps in over Kabul.

And then Tahir gets a phone call.

SPEAKS IN OWN LANGUAGE

TAHIR SIGHS
Oh...

Oh, it was a call from the doctor
of the Nejat Centre, and he said

Jawad, last night, was crying
and shouting and at 12 o'clock

they had to bring a car to take him
back home, which is really bad news.

I mean, he hasn't really made it.

And he couldn't even stay clean
of drugs for two nights, really.

Tahir drives to the centre
as fast as possible,

to find out exactly what's happened.

After a second full day of detoxing,
everyone looks much rougher.

It's a very difficult process.

Too difficult, it seems, for Jawad.

The doctor explains
Jawad must have lied about

decreasing his heroin use,

so his withdrawal symptoms were
much worse than for the others.

Heroin is one of the most
destructive and addictive drugs

in the world,
and it's damaging Afghanistan

just as surely
as it's ruining Jawad's life.

But as Tahir drives away,
there's one more surprise in store.

Oh, Jawad!

JAWAD AND TAHIR
CONVERSE IN OWN LANGUAGE

Jawad says he'd quit rehab

because one of the other addicts
insulted his mum.

The tragedy is that

what his mother wants more than
anything in the world

is for her son
to get clean of drugs.

MUSIC: "Heroin"
by The Velvet Underground

Angry and friendless, alone in
a blizzard, and still addicted...

..Jawad's chances of beating
his addiction seem bleak.

And for Afghanistan,

winning the wider war on drugs
will be just as hard.

# I...don't know

# Just where I'm going

# But I'm

# Gonna try for the kingdom

# If I can... #