United Nations, June 27: The production,
trafficking and consumption of most illegal drugs remained
steady last year and law enforcement agencies are becoming
more successful in their fight against the scourge, according
to a United Nations report.
The latest findings should dispel the fears that the
world was headed for an epidemic of drug abuse, UN Office on
Drugs and Crime (UNODC) executive director Antonio Maria Costa
said launching the 2007 World Drug Report.
"There is some ground for optimism that the runaway
train of drug addiction has slowed down," Costa said, pointing
out that the market for nearly all major drugs, including
cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines, either fell or
remained stable in 2005-06.
Coca cultivation in the Andes, a major production
region, continues to decline, the report found, and global
cocaine consumption has also stabilised, although a reduction
in the United States has been offset by what UNODC described
as an alarming increase in Europe.
The prevalence of amphetamine-type stimulants, such
as Ecstasy, is also steady or in retreat in many countries,
while there has been no rise-- for the first time in decades--
in the production or consumption of cannabis.
"The much greater number of pot smokers seeking
treatment shows that the new strains of high-potency cannabis
make people sick, not high," Costa said, while cautioning
that authorities worldwide cannot afford to ease off in their
efforts to restrict or eliminate illicit drug use.
Costa noted that opium production remains an enormous
problem in Afghanistan, where more than 90 per cent of the
world's supply is cultivated and the number of local addicts
is on the rise.
In one Afghan province alone, Helmand, more opium is
cultivated than in the rest of the country combined or in
Myanmar or Colombia.
"Effective surgery on Helmand's drug and insurgency
cancer will rid the world of the most dangerous source of its
most dangerous narcotic and go a long way to bringing security
to the region," he said.
The report noted that law enforcement agencies are
improving in their efforts to carry out drug seizures; more
than 45 per cent of the world's cocaine is being intercepted
and at least 25 per cent of the world's heroin, up from 24
per cent and 15 per cent respectively in 1999.
In response, many traffickers are seeking new routes,
particularly in Africa, the report said and Costa stressed
that this threat must be stamped out quickly with coordinated
attack on organised crime, money laundering and corruption.
if the drug problem is to be reduced in the
longer-term, governments must turn more towards preventative
measures that tackle the problem at the source drug users,
he added.
"The lives of at least one out of every 200 people in
the world are ruled by drugs. Drug addiction is an illness
that must, and can be prevented and treated," he said, calling
for early detection tests, better therapies and the
integration of drug treatment into public health and social
services programmes.
Bureau Report