Record opium crop in southern Afghanistan
Pastor Dale Morgan
Record opium crop in southern Afghanistan*
· Region set to become world's biggest supplier
· Cocaine consumption up in Europe, says UN report
Richard Norton-Taylor
Wednesday June 27, 2007
The Guardian
Afghan opium poppies in full bloom: Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Afghan opium poppies in full bloom: Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where some 7,000 British
troops are based, is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest drugs
supplier, cultivating more opium than entire countries such as Burma,
Morocco, or even Colombia, the UN warned yesterday.
The region was largely responsible for a huge increase last year in
Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest, the origin of most of the heroin on
the streets of Britain and mainland Europe. And Helmand's poppy harvest
is expected to increase again this year, according to the latest annual
report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
"Curing Helmand of its drug and insurgency cancer will rid the world of
the most dangerous source of its most dangerous narcotic and go a long
way to bring security to the region," said Antonio Maria Costa, the UN
agency's executive director.
The report will not be welcome reading for the British government. Five
years ago, Tony Blair said Britain would take responsibility for
overseeing Afghanistan's anti-narcotics programme. Last year, Kim
Howells, the Foreign Office minister, said an increase in the opium
harvest planted before British troops arrived in Helmand was one thing,
a further rise this year - now predicted by UN and British officials -
would be quite another.
"Drugs and the insurgency are intrinsically linked," a British official
admitted yesterday. British military commanders, meanwhile, warn that
attempts to eradicate the poppy crop without providing alternative
incomes will simply increase hostility to foreign troops and increase
support for the Taliban.
A US proposal to spray the poppy crop was vetoed by the Afghan
president, Hamid Karzai.
British officials say their priority is to attack the drug traffickers
and their laboratories before embarking on a long-term programme to
provide Afghans with alternative crops to farm. However, the UN report
says that even removing the top Afghan drug lords may not have any
effect on cross-border trade with dealers in Pakistan, Iran, and to the
north of the country.
A dramatic 49% increase last year to a record opium poppy harvest in the
country led to a new record in the world production of opium, the UN
says. Afghanistan accounts for 92% of global illict opium production.
The total export value of the country's opium harvest is estimated by
the UN to amount to more than $3bn (£1.5bn), almost half the size of the
country's entire gross domestic product. More than 12% of Afghanistan's
population of 23 million is involved in opium poppy cultivation.
There are about 11 million heroin addicts in the world, of which 3.3
million are in Europe, according to the UN report. It says the rise in
Afghanistan's opium cultivation in 2006 offset the sixth successive year
of decline in opium cultivation in south-east Asia.
The report says that coca cultivation is falling in South America and
cocaine consumption is declining in the US. However, consumption is
rising in Europe, particularly in Britain, Italy and Spain, the main
entry point for cocaine in Europe.
The report also suggests that overall drug abuse is being contained,
with total production, trafficking, and consumption, of illicit drugs
largely stabilised. Drug seizures have continued to increase, though it
adds that traffickers are establishing new routes, exploiting Africa in
particular.
"This threat needs to be addressed quickly to stamp out organised crime,
money laundering and corruption and to prevent the spread of drug use
that could cause havoc across a continent already plagued by many other
tragedies," Mr Costa said.
Cannabis, grown in 172 countries, often in small plots by users
themselves, continues to account for the vast majority of illegal drug
use and is consumed by about 160 million people, the report says.
Amphetamine-type stimulants - including ecstasy - remain the second-most
widely consumed group of substances, it says. Over the 2005-2006 period,
some 25 million people are estimated to have used amphetamines at least
once in the previous 12 months, about the same as a year earlier.
At a glance
· A 49% increase in opium production in Afghanistan has seen a new
record in the world production
· Afghanistan accounts for 92% of global illict opium production.
· Of the 11m heroin addicts in the world, 3.3m of them in Europe
· Cannabis is consumed by 160m people worldwide
· Over the 2005-2006 period, 25m people are estimated to have used
amphetamines at least once in the previous 12 months
· More than 12% of Afghanistan's population is involved in poppy
cultivation.