PESHAWAR, Sept 19: About 50 per cent of the adult population regularly use hashish in rural eastern Afghanistan, says an unpublished report of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP).

According to the report, the drug problem is caused by prolonged war and is a major hurdle in the way of reconstruction and development of the war-battered country.

“About 50 per cent of the people use hashish,  10 per cent misuse  pharmaceutical drugs, two per cent  opium (excluding ‘medical’ use of opium), whereas hashish is regularly consumed by 15 to 25 per cent of the male  adult population, said the report.

Obtained by Dawn, the report has identified and elaborated health issues as well as economic, social, legal and spiritual factors as the reasons for rise in problem of drug use in Afghan communities

It  says that extreme impoverishment, high unemployment,  social displacement, war-related mental health problems, lack of drug-related information, increased supply and availability of drugs and their affordability, are the indicators of increasing trend of drug use in Afghanistan.

Estimated numbers of drug users in five districts in rural eastern Afghanistan was set at 120,000, whereas the other  drugs reportedly used in eastern rural Afghanistan were solvents, such as industrial glue, shoe polish, tobacco, alcohol, mostly home- brewed, indigenous psychoactive plants, like datura and snake heads and scorpion tails.