• Destroying poppies in a Guatemala plantation

    Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

    A police officer shows a poppy flower during an operation to destroy a plantation in Tuinima village, Tajumulco nunicipality, San Marcos departament, 315 km northeast of Guatemala City, near the border with Mexico, on Wednesday.

    Johan Ordonez / AFP - Getty Images

    A soldier takes part in an operation to destroy a poppy plantation in Tuinima village.

    Most of the images of poppy cultivation (and destruction) we see are from Afghanistan. See this series about opium previously in PhotoBlog, and this piece about security forces burning opium.

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  • Lifting the veil on Afghanistan's female addicts

    Left: A drug addict in Kabul smokes for an additional kick after injecting himself with heroin, Aug. 2007. Image: Saurabh Das / AP
    Right: An Afghan woman holds up opium as she attends a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Reuters reports: Anita lifted the sky-blue burqa from her face, revealing glazed eyes and cracked lips from years of smoking opium, and touched her saggy belly, still round from giving birth to her seventh child a month ago.

    "I can't give breast milk to my baby," said the 32-year-old Anita, "I'm scared he'll get addicted.”

    Left: Male drug addicts sit in the detox room at the Kabul Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, Sept. 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Image: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
    Right: Female drug addicts visit the Nejat drug rehabilitation center in Kabul, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    While it is not uncommon to see men shooting up along the banks of the dried up Kabul riverbed in broad daylight, women in the ultra-conservative culture of Muslim Afghanistan are expected to stay out of public view for the most part. They often have to seek permission from a male relative or husband to leave their home, and when they do they are encased in the head-to-toe burqa.

    No estimates are available on how many women are addicted to opium or heroin. Nejat estimates around 60,000 women in Afghanistan regularly take illegal drugs, including hashish and marijuana. Full story

    Left: An Afghan drug addict smokes heroin in the city of Ghazni west of Kabul, Afghanistan. Aug. 2007. Image: Musadeq Sadeq / AP
    Right: A woman addict sits cross-legged during a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: An Afghan policeman stands behind a pile of burning illegal narcotics in Kabul, April 2009.
    Right: A drug addict waits for her turn to see doctors at the Nejat drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, Jan. 2012. Images: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: Afghan farmers work in an opium poppy field in Nawa district of Helmand province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, April 2009. Image: Abdul Khaleq / AP
    Right: A drug addict holds her child as she visits the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Image: Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    Left: A doctor gives advice to a new detox patient in the Nejat detox program at the Kabul Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center, Sept. 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Image: Paula Bronstein / Getty Images
    Right: An Afghan doctor explains the use of condoms to a group of women addicts at a counseling session at the Nejat drug rehabilitation center, Jan. 2012. Ahmad Masood / Reuters

    More photos from Afghanistan on PhotoBlog

    PhotoBlog: Saffron replacing heroin?

    More photos from Afghanistan in our slideshow: Nation at a crossroads

  • Myanmar's war on opium

    Damir Sagolj / Reuters

    Policemen and villagers use sticks and grass cutters to destroy a poppy field above the village of Tar-Pu, in the mountains of Shan State, Myanmar, Jan. 27, 2012. Myanmar has dramatically escalated its poppy eradication efforts since September 2011, threatening the livelihoods of impoverished farmers who depend upon opium as a cash crop to buy food.

    Damir Sagolj / Reuters

    Soldiers and villagers walk home after destroying the poppy fields above the village of Ho Hwayt, in the mountains of Shan State, Myanmar, Jan. 26, 2012.

    Damir Sagolj / Reuters

    Children at a school in the village of Tar-Pu, in the mountains of Shan State, Myanmar, Jan. 27, 2012.

     

    Damir Sagolj / Reuters

    An ethnic Pa-O man takes a bath after meeting with representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Myanmar's police at the village of War Taw, in the mountains of Shan State, Jan. 27, 2012.

    Reuters reports: Since taking power a year ago, the nominally civilian government of President Thein Sein has launched a series of political and economic reforms. It has also dramatically accelerated a campaign to eradicate opium poppies and shed Myanmar's pariah status as one of the world's top drug producers.

    Forging a lasting peace is arguably Thein Sein's toughest challenge, and it is complicated by opium. As in Afghanistan and Colombia, the drug trade has long fueled conflict in Myanmar, providing cash to buy weapons and a lucrative product to fight over.

    Chopping down opium poppies is the easy part. Helping former poppy-growing families develop alternative crops and livelihoods is complicated and costly. Full story.

  • Opium burn

    Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

    Military, government and security officials attend a buring of confiscated opium November 3, in Herat, Afghanistan. The opium was confiscated by security forces during recent anti-drug operations across the Afghanistan.

    By Jim Seida

    This first image is my favorite of this series.  I love how they brought out the fancy furniture for the burn.

    Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

    An Afghan security officer prepares the confiscated opium to be destoyed.

    Majid Saeedi / Getty Images

    Afghan security officers take pictures of the burning opium.