The southern borders of Kyrgyzstan are a route for drug trafficking from Afghanistan to Western countries. There is a strong correlation between the volume of drug trafficking and the number of drug addicts in Kyrgyzstan. There are an estimated 6,000 drug addicts in Kyrgyzstan, most of whom use opium. About 70-80% of the opium consumed by addicts is produced in the region. Three quarters of all drug addicts are under 30 years of age. More than 25% of young people in Kyrgyzstan have used drugs at least once, a 250% increase over the past three years. The growth of drug use in Kyrgyzstan has also been followed by an escalation of HIV-infection. While there have only been 37 cases of HIV infection in Kyrgyzstan since 1987, over the past few months, three drug addicts in ten are infected with HIV.

During the Soviet period, beginning in the 1930s and extending through the early 1970s, Kyrgyzstan was the site of government cultivated opium for medicinal use. Many locals involved in this past government cultivation now use their skills for illegal opium production. Opium has become a source of income to survive a difficult economy typified by job scarcity and low salaries. But so far, opium poppy cultivation in Kyrgyzstan is still relatively rare and small in size.

Illicit cultivation of cannabis and ephedra is for the moment a more serious problem for Kyrgyzstan. These two drug containing plants are widely distributed throughout the country. An estimated 60-80 % of families in the Issyk-Kul and Chui regions are engaged in the gathering of cannabis. Approximately 20-25 grams (a matchbox full) of hashish sells for about US $3 dollars in the countryside and about US $5-7 dollars in Bishkek. Cannabis is generally consumed locally and trafficked to neighboring NIS countries.

Local communities are helping the Kyrgyzstan government resolve the drug use problem in collaboration with NGOs working with the World Bank, UNDCP, and UNESCO. Over fifty projects dealing with socio-economic, medical, and educational aspects of drug use are underway. However, the most important means of combatting drugs is to foster economic development to improve the living standards of local people, especially in the rural areas of Kyrgyzstan.

Nurbubu Moldogazieva is a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic