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NY: Narcotics Surge Aids Afghan, Colombia Militants-UN

Jun 26, 2008/reuters.com/New York

By Louis Charbonneau
UNITED NATIONS, June 26 (Reuters) - Narcotics supplies have increased sharply in parts of Afghanistan and Colombia where insurgents are in control, helping them fund their activities, the United Nations said on Thursday.

While cultivation of the opium poppy stabilized or dropped in many parts of Afghanistan, five southern regions controlled by Taliban militants produced enough poppy to double the world's opium output between 2005 and 2007, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in its World Drug Report 2008.

On the other side of the world in Colombia, coca cultivation rose by 27 percent in 2007, though coca leaf and cocaine production were concentrated in just 10 of the country's 195 municipalities, the Vienna-based UNODC said.
Afghanistan remained the world's top heroin producer last year while Colombia was the foremost producer of cocaine.

"In Colombia, just like in Afghanistan, the regions where most coca is grown are under the control of insurgents," UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in a statement.

"In the future, we need to be even more proactive," he said.

"Recent major increases in drug supply from Afghanistan and Colombia may drive addiction rates up, because of lower prices and higher purity of doses."


Costa's report said that even though there was a sharp rise in the cultivation of coca in Colombia, the actual cocaine output was unchanged in 2007 due to lower yields.

This is because planters have had to grow coca on smaller, remote plots to avoid detection by an increasingly aggressive government.

"In the past few years, the Colombian government destroyed the large-scale coca plots by means of massive aerial eradication," Costa said.

"It was an unquestionably successful campaign against armed groups and drug traffickers alike."

Coca cultivation also increased in Bolivia and Peru last year, though yields were down there as well. Global cocaine production from coca leaf was virtually unchanged in 2007 at 994 metric tonnes compared with 984 tonnes in 2006.

NEW DRUG SUPPLY ROUTES IN AFRICA
In Afghanistan, Taliban militants also have profited from drugs. Global opium production reached 8,870 metric tonnes last year, with Afghanistan alone accounting for 92 percent of the world's supply of the key ingredient for heroin.

"In the southern areas, controlled by the Taliban, counter-narcotics and counter-insurgency must be fought together," Costa said.

Myanmar, the world's second biggest opium producer, also recorded an increase in opium poppy cultivation last year and was responsible for most of the non-Afghan heroin.

Drug traffickers have found new delivery routes, especially in West Africa, where data showed increases in seizures and use of cocaine. The West Africa distribution route appears to be feeding growing interest in cocaine in western Europe.

The UNODC said the North American market for cocaine, however, appears to be shrinking.

The report said the number of workers in the United States who tested positive for cocaine declined by 19 percent last year and by 36 percent since 1998.

The biggest consumer market for illicit drugs, however, remains the marijuana market.

The UNODC estimates that some 166 million people -- roughly 4 percent of the world's population between ages 15 and 64 -- used cannabis, or marijuana, in 2006, compared to 16 million who used cocaine and 12 million who used heroin.

The UNODC report also described the overall success of drug control policies over the last century and the last decade. One positive example was that global opium output has fallen by 70 percent since it was first surveyed in 1909, despite a fourfold increase in the world's population.

Costa said: "Drug statistics show that the drug problem was dramatically reduced over the past century, and has stabilized over the past 10 years." (Editing by Vicki Allen)

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SpiralArchitect

Apparently this 'new aggressive tactic' isn't doing shiat to stop 'em.

This made me scratch my head
How do they know how much coca leaf is grown/cocaine produced a year?

More like mind controlling policies?

Millions of people are still doing drugs, and millions of people (criminals actually) are making lots of money of them. They haven't stopped anything. I don't see how that's classified as 'success'.

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dedbr

Probably has a lot to do with the fact that it does absolutely no physical harm and cures cancer. Two really good reason's, huh....


Some Where In Ded Land.................

Victor_vicious

I am guessing this means some folks found out the 'pain pills' they were prescribed contained cocaine and is addictive

Wow!!!! This is 'GREAT NEWS'. The 'Gateway' has been closed. 4% use Marijuana, 0.4%use cocaine and 0.3% use heroin. We are destroying whole countries to keep less than 1% of the worlds population from killing themselves??

I find this interesting. In 'real numbers' adjusted for the increase in population that would amount to a little over 90% decrease. Great, Great Grandpa's generation must have had a lot of heroin addicts after all.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)[/quote]

According to LEAP it has remained relatively stable at 1.2% of the population, that may just be the US, since 1914, if you exclude Marijuana. VV

SpiralArchitect

Er...

I don't think 'pain pills' contain cocaine. Usually they contain some form of synthesized opiate...

Maybe I misread, I just thought I'd clear that up. I have yet to hear of cocaine being used as a prescription drug. It's usually used (if ever) as a localized anesthetic in mostly eye, nose and throat surgery.

 

Buzzby

You are correct. Prescription pain pills contain synthetic or naturally-derived opiates. Cocaine would be ineffective as a systemic pain killer.

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SpiralArchitect

Okay, I thought so...

Re-reading my first post,
Can anyone explain to me;

How do they figure this kind of stuff out?

They must take how ever much they 'catch' and assume its x% of the total amount... sounds like a very iffy method if you ask me...

Buzzby

It's a "guesstimate". Are there 8 million, 24 million, or 36 million cannabis consumers in the US? It depends on who you ask.