IRAQ: Traumatised young Iraqis turn increasingly to hard drugs

Reuters AlertNet - IRAQ: Traumatised young Iraqis turn increasingly to hard drugs:

"It is early morning. Khalid's father snorts a small quantity of heroin himself and wishes his son good luck as he sets out into the streets of this city, 160 km south of Baghdad, to find new customers.

'In the beginning I found the idea strange, but today I feel comfortable doing it because at the same time as I'm earning my own money, I'm also using the drug and it helps me forget the terror that has descended on our lives since the foreigners took over our country,' Hussein said.

He and his father are among the rising number of Iraqi addicts who also work as dealers to make money and finance their expensive habit."

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Many consumers of heroin and cocaine say they have been traumatised by the increasing cycle of political violence in Iraq as Islamic insurgents step up their fight against the US-led coalition which invaded the country in 2003 to depose former president Saddam Hussein.

And drug pushers told IRIN they had found a lucrative market amongst soldiers in the US-led occupation forces. They report strong demand from Italian troops in particular.