opium

You definitely created an eerie mood! The dark colors work really well with the subject matter. I like the way you painted the smoke coming out of the mouth of the man wearing a turban.

Bit of personal input here: My brother introduced me and I'm pretty sure he used to get from a seller over there. I did like it, but since he got addicted, it's no longer in my life. He told me it was the worst to get addicted to because the withdrawal was immense- almost a couple months of intense physical pain, sickness, heavy depression... similar to dying.
You do capture the various stages well - the woman on the left seems depressed while the one closest has no face... It makes me think of talking to my brother when he said he felt he was dying. Losing the face. And then, you have the beginning stages furthest away (and perhaps the least important to pay attention to, particularly when we want to talk about the addiction and not small doses), which would be the euphoria and relaxation.
I don't know if you've used or go by testimonials (it's wonderful and refreshing to see someone so in tune with people), but you've really captured it well.

WOW!!! interesting info.. thanks!!! Excellent painting!!

I read about that before, I here it's a bad drug though (every here and there).
I like this cause - one it's a good piece of info and two, I really like the positions the characters in it and the atmosphere fits perfectly together.

Adding that to the huge pile of stats that make Afghanistan the most depressing country ever.

Woah. This is amazing. The message, even more so.

If you'll recall your history, there was a time when half of Britain's population was addicted to opium, it was their stress/pain reliever of choice. Doctors even prescribed it to patients. THEIRS of course, was imported for the orient. I don't think it ever did good things for them. Or anyone else for that matter.