A combination of lax anti-drug enforcement and the trauma of war and insurgency have led to a flood of drugs on the streets of Baghdad and other communities and an increase in use, especially among young people. Many users also work as dealers to support their habit.

The Iraqi Ministry of Health says drug use is rising among men and women of all ages, particularly in Baghdad and in the southern part of Iraq. Heroin is smuggled in from Afghanistan via Iran, while cocaine comes in from Turkey. Police and soldiers are too busy fighting the insurgency to worry about drugs; there is only one drug-sniffing dog in the country, and the Interior Ministry only recently launched an anti-drug squad.

"In the present circumstances we have to choose our priorities and the insurgency is killing more people than the drugs are," said Saruwad Haeezid, an Interior Ministry official.

Dealers say foreign troops, notably Italian soldiers, have also driven up demand for drugs.

"There has [been] a huge increase in the consumption of drugs since last year," said Kamel Ali, director of the Ministry of Health's drug-control program. "The numbers have doubled. In most cases the users are youths who have become addicted and are now working as drug dealers under pressure from the traffickers in order to keep themselves supplied."

Under Saddam, anyone caught with hard drugs faced execution. Now, few dealers fear police, and some officers are users themselves. "They cannot do anything to us," said dealer Abu Ali. "Sometimes you even find members of the Iraqi army or the police looking for us to buy some of this great white powder which makes you fly to another planet."

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