HERAT CITY (PAN): Twenty addicts have been discharged from a drug rehabilitation centre in Herat prison, where another 630 are still languishing in jail, an official said on Tuesday.
The 20-bed rehabilitation centre was set up at a cost of $100,000 with financial assistance from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC).
Under a year-long contract, the UNODC would provide treatment facilities for drugs addicts, Herat Public Health Director Dr. Hayatullah Habib told Pajhwok Afghan News.
Herat jail superintendent, Brig. Gen. Shah Mir Amirpur, said the facility inside prison was the first-ever rehabilitation centre in the country, treating 20 addicts every three weeks.
He said the 630 jailed drugs addicts would be treated over the next two years. “After rehabilitation, we keep individuals in a specific area where they undergo vocational training courses.”
Abdul Qayyum, 24, who slipped into addiction 12 years ago while living in Iran, said he had been sentenced to three years in jail on charges of robbery. “I am married with two children and am happy because of being given a new life.”
mm/mud
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