Heroin  2000  Peshawar, Pakistan

Heroin addicts meet on the edge of Peshawar to sell, buy, and use heroin, opium, and hashish. This man is melting a small, thin square of heroin on a piece of aluminum foil and inhaling the vapors.

The average Pakistani makes less than $100 per month. Afghans make even less. Heroin is plentiful and cheap. After the 1979 revolution in Iran stopped the opium flow across Iran, the opiates began to travel east across Pakistan. Heroin is refined from opium and is easier to transport. Alcohol is prohibited by Islam but the government of Pakistan has not moved vigorously to stop the opiate trade. Many Pakistanis and Afghans find relief from harsh reality in drugs.