KABUL, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- A total of 309 individuals who had been struggling with drug addiction have made a full recovery and rejoined their families in southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province, state-run Bakhtar News Agency reported on Tuesday.
The former addicts from the provincial capital Kandahar City and other districts of the province completed a comprehensive three-month medical treatment and rehabilitation program before being reintegrated into society, Bakhtar quoted Mullah Assadullah Jamshidi, provincial police spokesperson, as saying.
In addition to medical care, participants received vocational training in dressmaking, motorcycle repair, and electrical appliance maintenance to facilitate their long-term recovery and economic independence, said the official.
Separately, the Office of the Deputy Minister of Interior for Counter-Narcotics announced that 161 people struggling with addiction have been transferred to rehabilitation centers across 11 provinces for treatment.
Since assuming power, the Afghan government has enforced a strict ban on poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking as part of a nationwide campaign to eradicate drug abuse and its devastating social consequences. ■