Africa, the new crossroads for heroin and cocaine
Pastor Dale Morgan
Thursday March 1, 8:11 AM
*Africa, the new crossroads for heroin and cocaine*
Africa has become one of the main crossroads in the traffic of heroin
and cocaine, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in
its annual report published Thursday.
"Taking advantage of the weak interdiction capacities in Africa, drug
trafficking networks are using the region as a transit area for
smuggling cocaine from South America... (and) heroin from west and
southeast Asia" to Europe and North America, the Vienna-based INCB said.
Cocaine trafficking in Africa is "a particularly worrisome development,"
said the organisation, which monitors the implementation of United
Nations drug control conventions. It pointed out that cocaine was often
exchanged for heroin before being shipped to Asia.
Cocaine consumption has seen a jump in Europe, now the second largest
illicit market in the world after the United States with a particularly
high prevalence rate in Spain and Britain.
It is also on the rise in Asia, especially among the new wealthy classes
in India and Hong Kong.
The total surface of land dedicated to cocaine production however seems
to have stabilised 28 percent below the 2000 level, the INCB noted.
The production of opium -- the raw ingredient of heroin -- continues to
grow in Afghanistan, by far the largest producer in the world with a
record 6,100 tons in 2006, up almost 50 percent from the previous year.
This is due to "corruption prevailing throughout the country," where a
third of the economy is dependent on the opium trade, the report said.
"Unless Afghanistan takes swift measures to address the problem of
corruption, government efforts in drug control will be undermined,
further hindering political progress, economic growth and social
development in the country," the INCB said.
Heroin consumption has dropped in western and central Europe but is on
the rise in eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc, the report added.
In most countries, the most common illicit drug is cannabis, especially
in Europe where six percent of the population has tried it at least once.
The INCB also warned about the growing abuse of prescription drugs,
whether delivered legally or illegally, and the increasing consumption
of synthetic drugs, mostly in North America, Europe and Asia.
Methamphetamine, "the drug of choice" in Japan, the Philippines, South
Korea and Thailand, is the "fastest-growing drug threat" in the United
States and is gaining popularity in places like China and Malaysia.
In Europe, ecstasy is much more common and is only second to cannabis in
terms of consumption on the continent.
"Eventual success in tackling the world drug problem depends not only on
appropriate legislation that is effectively implemented, but also on
well-designed demand reduction programmes," INCB President Philip Emafo
said.