White poppies in Contemporary War: Afghanistan and Aberdeen Hilary Homans, 11 th May

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Overview Development & connectedness Drugs & dependency War against…?

April 2003 Nurobod, Tajikistan

Source: ajikistan.html ajikistan.html Photo credit: Homans, 2003

Opium plantation in Afghanistan

Opium pod, powdered heroin, heroin block

Injecting drugs inside the ruined cultural palace, Kabul

Inside the morgue, Kabul – injecting drug user who had overdosed

Bags of heroin – ready to export

Aberdeen 2010 How & why does the white stuff get here? Photo: OST programme King Street

2001 Fall of the Taliban Aid pledges made not fully met Result – re-introduction of opium poppy plantations Drug production in Afghanistan increased dramatically since the U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001.

Opium cultivation in Afghanistan, (Hectares) Source: UNODC ( ), MCN/UNODC (since 2003). The high-low lines represent the upper and lower bounds of the 95% confidence interval. cuments/crop- monitoring/Afghanistan/A fghan_report_Summary_F indings_2013.pdf

Source: UNODC (2013) World Drug Report 2013, UN, New York. unodc/secured/wdr/wd r2013/World_Drug_Re port_2013.pdf

Britain – Afghanistan links 1 st March 2011 David Cameron and Hamid Karzai held talks on Afghanistan's future

2011 changes to Britain's aid programme Funds cut to 16 countries Angola, Bosnia i Herzegovina, Cambodia, Kosovo, Vietnam no more UK aid Increases to Afghanistan, Somalia, Zimbabwe

Investment in reconstruction: UK govt by year

Of rivers and drugs - Tajikistan/Afghanistan border Photo credit Panj river 10/following-panj-river.html =jF5rKW3VN3I

Governance and crime Drug trafficking linked with people trafficking and sex trafficking Porous borders Poor governance Poor wages for security staff Increasing inequalities and poverty

Youth Youth unemployment about 20% for CEE/CIS...boredom Adolescence...experimentation

Displaced male youth in Georgia – bored and unemployed

Age of first injecting decreasing In Kazakhstan, 54% of people who inject drugs under age 25. Adolescent IDUs (< 19 years): St. Petersburg, Russia, almost 1/3 people injecting drugs, Ukraine, 20% & Armenia 13%. Young people who inject drugs age at first injecting: – Albania the median age of first injection 16 years – Romania 76% & 67% started injecting before age 18 – Ukraine average age of first injection 14.4 years – Serbia 20% of all people who inject drugs started injecting before age 18

People who inject drugs Population size estimates UNAIDS World AIDS Report

% of people who inject drugs per head of population UNAIDS: 2010

Injecting drugs & problem drug use in Aberdeen AreaEstimated number Injecting drug users Estimated number Problem drug use Estimated prevalence IDUs Estimated prevalence Problem drug use Aberdeenshire6831, %0.83% Aberdeen2,2463, %2.31% Mainland Scotland23,93361, %1.71 Aberdeen city has the second highest rate of injecting drug use in Scotland 27 drug-related deaths were recorded in Aberdeen city in 2008 – cause of most deaths were heroin/morphine, benzodiazepine and alcohol Sources: Health Protection Scotland, 2009/10 Misuse/Publications/ / Injecting-Equipment-Provision Report.pdfhttp:// Misuse/Publications/ / Injecting-Equipment-Provision Report.pdf

Russian Federation At least 30,000 people die in Russia every year from heroin, 90% of it smuggled in from Afghanistan. Russia and the European Union have developed a 5 year plan to tackle the Afghan drug trade. Ivanov argues for criminalisation and poppy-crop eradication. Viktor Ivanov Director of Russia's Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics 21/02/2011

The Problem: Injecting heroin driving the HIV epidemic The Intervention: Programme targeting pre-injectors to reduce transition to heroin use / injecting

HIV prevalence among people who inject drugs remains high. HIV prevention coverage for people who inject drugs remains low. Among 35 countries providing data in 2013, all but four reached less than 10% of opiate users with substitution therapy. UNAIDS World AIDS Report _en.pdf 13_en.pdf HIV

% of people who inject drugs who are living with HIV UNAIDS World AIDS Report

% of people in Scotland who inject drugs who share drug injection equipment 2002 to 2011 Source: Scottish Drug Misuse Database 2002 to 2011

Not only HIV... Hepatitis B and C Drug dependency in children Linkages between sexual and injecting drug transmission Problems with rehabilitation and lack of integrated services

Conclusion Lack of support for international development has devastating consequences not only for the country concerned, but for a wide range of other countries and cities close to home. Failure to meet Millennium Development Goal 6 to reduce HIV infection

Conclusion Need to invest in economic, social and environmental development i.e. sustainable international development War against terrorism, poppies, drugs?

Protecting people or poppies? wjihadi.com/

White Poppies for Peace White Poppies for Peace first appeared in 1933 on Armistice Day, ‘presenting an alternative view of security and how to achieve it without violence’. topics/campaigns/peace-poppies-in-the- peace-garden