Travel to a place where sowing narcotics is every townsperson’s career and what do you get?

18,172,517 pounds.

That’s how much opium is produced in Afghanistan a year, responsible for 93% of the world’s supply. Among that, half of it is produced in one area of the country: the wraithlike Helmand Province.

A 58,584 km cosmic desert, the province’s pride lies in bulbs containing 10% morphine per head. But since January, frost, a lack of rain and more bad weather have left farmers scouring on empty.

“The Holy Koran hated our fields this year,” said a farmer in Helmand in May.

Throughout the year, farmers complained that the normally bulbous seed heads of the poppy plant were shriveled, useless.

The current average price in Afghanistan for a kilo of dry opium is about $106. The price has fallen drastically after years of poor harvest. The Taliban make a profit by levying taxes of 10% on opium cultivation and up to 15% to 20% on processing, trades, smuggling, and distribution.

Now the second problem? In an area that once boasted over 65,000-70,000 poppy smokers, over 1 million Afghanis are addicts. 40% are women and children, according to Addicted in Afghanistan, a fantastic documentary about opium addiction in Afghanistan.

Watch a clip here.

How do you produce an addictive crop without, well, addiction? How can you take away the livelihood of farmers who rely on opium profit? How do you criticize the 745,000 people in the Helmand Province who are merely capitalizing on their goods?

Travel to the Wadan Rehabilitation Center in Helmand, and you’ll meet Nazar Mohaammad, a 16-year old heroin addict whose father works in the opium fields.

Mohammad first experienced the drug when his father asked him to slice open poppies and collect raw opium in their family fields in Baghran District. Someone then persuaded Mohammad to down a piece of opium and “enjoy…”

“Months after I sold all our opium, I discovered that my son was addicted to it,” said Mohammad’s father, Haji.

No one knows for certain how many addicts live in Helmand, they only know that it’s not something people want to be treated for.

“Every week over 15 addicts come to our hospital for treatment,” said Rawzatullah Zia, the head of WRC, adding that two years ago the figure was half that.

Eighty percent of all households in Helmand are involved in growing poppies.

There are thousands of young teenagers who work the poppy fields. Therefore, there is no oversight, and little protection against becoming addicted to the drug.

In remote villages where access to health services is limited, locals consume opium as painkillers and mothers use the drug to sedate their orphans and mask the symptoms of disease.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Counter Narcotics (MCN) rightly acknowledge there is growing opium addiction in Helmand but say “insecurity has restricted efforts to effectively tackle the problem.”

UN officials say the UN does not provide any assistance to help reduce drug addiction or demand in Helmand, but relies on “UK counter-narcotics efforts in the province,” said Jahanzeb Khan of UNODC.

As one farmer said, “if we don’t cultivate our resources, how will we earn a living? We’re just dealing with the consequences. But the consequences are bad.”