Drug use, sales soar in Iraq’s Basra amid nationwide spike

In this Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017 photo, blindfolded suspected drug dealers are displayed with their goods and weapons in a detention facility in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In Iraq’s southern Basra province, illegal drug use and trade are hitting unseen levels, mainly among youth, taking the lead in a nationwide spike that has transformed Iraq from merely a corridor for drug trafficking to neighboring countries. Officials blame the country’s porous borders, a widespread ban on alcohol and poverty for the increase. (AP/Nabil Al-Jurani)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 photo, a recovering drug addict, who asked to remain anonymous, sits in a hospital in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In Iraq’s southern Basra province, illegal drug use and trade are hitting unseen levels, mainly among youth, taking the lead in a nationwide spike that has transformed Iraq from merely a corridor for drug trafficking to neighboring countries. Officials blame the country’s porous borders, a widespread ban on alcohol and poverty for the increase. (AP/Nabil Al-Jurani)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, drugs, manufacturing tools and weapons belonging to detained drug dealers are displayed in a detention facility in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In Iraq’s southern Basra province, illegal drug use and trade are hitting unseen levels, mainly among youth, taking the lead in a nationwide spike that has transformed Iraq from merely a corridor for drug trafficking to neighboring countries. Officials blame the country’s porous borders, a widespread ban on alcohol and poverty for the increase. (AP/Nabil Al-Jurani)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017 photo, a recovering drug addict, who asked to remain anonymous, shows the scars on her arm from suicide attempts, in Basra, 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq. In Iraq’s southern Basra province, illegal drug use and trade are hitting unseen levels, mainly among youth, taking the lead in a nationwide spike that has transformed Iraq from merely a corridor for drug trafficking to neighboring countries. Officials blame the country’s porous borders, a widespread ban on alcohol and poverty for the increase. (AP/Nabil Al-Jurani)

BASRA, Iraq: The rows of self-harm scars that course upward on the teenager’s forearms from her wrists nearly to her elbows are reminders of dark times.
At age seven, the now 19-year-old was diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia, a hereditary disease that comes with painful symptoms, including inflammation of the hands and feet and frequent infections. She became a regular visitor to a hospital where she was given Tramadol, an opioid medication that brought some relief.
Eventually, though, she began obtaining the medication even when there was no pain.
She is part of a phenomenon in Iraq’s southern Basra province, where illegal drug use and sales have reached previously unseen levels, mainly among youths, over the last three years.