This day, however, when he is overheard telling strangers that the Taliban sell him his drugs, it is rage rather than rupees that fall his way.
"Why are you saying you get these drugs from the Taliban? Do not tell this to these foreigners," says a man in a white robe, growing angrier as Mr. Khan insists that the "students of Islam" -- the Taliban -- sell drugs to the poor.
"Be silent!" the man yells. "Do not speak of this!"
"It is the truth," he fires back, waving his hands. "It is Muslims who are selling this drug to other Muslims. The Taliban are no different."
Before the bombings, the Taliban warned they would retaliate against an invasion
by exporting more heroin, to spread misery to the West.
"Taliban have recently announced [they will] allow the people to cultivate [poppies] on their land if America attacks them," Islamabad's The News says. "Afghans, who had a huge quantity of stored opium, are trying to sell their stock."
But the misery of the poppies hits Pakistan first, not the United States. There are believed to be 1.5 million heroin addicts in this nation of 150 million, making it the most heroin-ravaged country in the world. Another two million Pakistanis are addicted to opium and hashish, according to estimates by aid workers.
There are no official statistics. But walk the streets of Peshawar, the ancient trading town by the border, and there is no doubt the level of addiction is horrendous.
In front of Federal Girls School No. 1, a man in his 20s -- who weighs barely 80 pounds -- is prostrate near the gutter, oblivious to the mule carts that clack by.
Wasted to a skeleton, he is dying. But people step over and around him, rarely
throwing rupees into his only possession, a steel pot.
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Uppers,
Downers, All Arounders
By D. Inaba
A non- judgmental, current, and highly visual, textbook /reference
book on the physical and mental effects of psychoactive drugs.
The 500-page book covers all aspects of drug use and abuse including
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