World failing to dent heroin trade, U.N. warns

[eazyetrain]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum. I'm new.

From CNN.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapc...ade/index.html


(CNN) -- Afghan heroin kills more people from NATO countries every year than Afghan insurgents have killed in the eight years since the fall of the Taliban regime, the United Nations said Wednesday.


An Afghan police officer digs up a field of opium poppies in April.

About 15 million people around the world use heroin, opium or morphine, fueling a $65 billion market, warned Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.

The trade is fueling terrorism and insurgencies: The Taliban raised between $450 million and $600 million in the past four years by "taxing" opium farmers and traffickers, he says in a new report.

Not all the money is going into the pockets of rebels or full-time drug dealers -- some Afghan officials are making money off the trade as well.

"The Afghan drug economy generates several hundred million dollars per year into evil hands -- some with black turbans, some with white collars," Costa says.

And the problem is spreading.

Drug money is now funding insurgencies in Central Asia, which has huge energy reserves, Costa says.

"The Silk Route, turned into a heroin route, is carving out a path of death and violence through one of the world's most strategic, yet volatile regions," he says.

Authorities are seizing too little heroin -- intercepting only about 20 percent of opiate traffic around the world, according to the U.N. report, titled "Addiction, Crime and Insurgency." It comes on the heels of a U.N. warning last month that two years' worth of opium is effectively "missing," probably stockpiled by the Taliban and criminal gangs.

More than 12,000 tons of opium -- which can be consumed as a narcotic itself or turned into heroin -- is unaccounted for, the United Nations estimated in September.

It is not clear who has it or why, but the United Nations speculates criminals could be holding it as a hedge against falling prices, or that insurgents or terrorists could be stockpiling it to fund future attacks.

The latest report claims to be the first systematic attempt to track where Afghan opium ends up.

Europe and Russia together consume just under half of the heroin coming out of Afghanistan, the United Nations concludes, while Iran is by far the single largest consumer of Afghan opium. See how Afghan heroin reaches Europe and the West »

Afghanistan is also probably supplying an increasing share of the heroin in China -- perhaps as much as a quarter, the report says.

Afghanistan is by far the world's largest producer of opium, although Laos, Myanmar (also known as Burma) and Latin America produce small quantities of the narcotic, it says.



The United Nations found that Afghanistan may be supplying more heroin to the United States and Canada than had previously been suspected.

The two North American countries consume more than twice as much heroin as Latin America produces. That means either that more Afghan heroin is making its way to North America than had been known, or that Mexico and Colombia are producing more than was realized, the United Nations says.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good and important information.

[chillinwill]

Thank you for sharing this eazyetrain

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[terrapinzflyer]

the press release for the report from the UNODC. (no link since its a gov't site)

PDF of report uploaded to File Archive




21 October 2009 - Afghanistan has a monopoly on global opium poppy cultivation (92 per cent), the raw material for the world's deadliest drug - heroin. The size and impact of the opium economy in Afghanistan were documented in the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2009 published in September. Less well known, however, is the size of the opiate trade once it leaves Afghanistan, and its impact on the world.

In a new report, Addiction, Crime and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, UNODC shows the devastating consequences that the 900 tons of opium and 375 tons of heroin that are trafficked from Afghanistan every year have on the health and security of countries along the Balkan and Eurasian drug routes, of countries in Europe, of China, India and the Russian Federation.

It documents how the world's deadliest drug has created a market worth $65 billion, catering to 15 million addicts, causing up to 100,000 deaths per year, spreading HIV at an unprecedented rate and, not least, funding criminal groups, insurgents and terrorists.

"We have identified the global consequences of the Afghan opium trade. Some are devastating, but expected; others seem surprising, yet they are very real. I urge the friends of Afghanistan to recognize that, to a large extent, these uncomfortable truths may be the result of their benign neglect", said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa at the unveiling of the new report.

Large quantities of opium used, small quantities seized
The report's findings reveal a number of anomalies. One such anomaly is the incongruence between the large quantities of heroin being consumed and the small quantities being seized. Approximately 40 per cent of Afghanistan's heroin is trafficked each year into Pakistan, about 30 per cent enters the Islamic Republic of Iran and 25 per cent flows into Central Asia. In Afghanistan, corruption, lawlessness and uncontrolled borders result in an insignificant 2 per cent interception rate of the opiates produced, compared to 36 per cent in Colombia for cocaine.

According to Mr. Costa, "the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region has turned into the world's largest free trade zone in anything and everything that is illicit - drugs of course, but also weapons, bomb-making equipment, chemical precursors, drug money, even people and migrants."

Interdiction rates decline outside Afghanistan while drug values rise
The second anomaly exposed by the report is that outside Afghanistan, interdiction rates decline as the drugs move closer to lucrative and more opulent markets. While the Islamic Republic of Iran intercepts 20 per cent of the opiates crossing its territory and Pakistan 17 per cent, Central Asian States intercept just 5 per cent and the Russian Federation a meagre 4 per cent. Countries of South-Eastern Europe, including European Union member States like Bulgaria, Greece and Romania, intercept less than 2 per cent of their opiate trade.

"Seizing Afghan opium where it is produced is infinitely more efficient and cheaper than trying to do so where it is consumed", said Mr. Costa, calling for more resources to tackle the problem at its source - in Afghanistan and its surrounding area. "This is not just a shared responsibility: it's hard-headed self-interest", said Mr. Costa.

Taliban making more money today that 10 years ago
A third anomaly is the significant increase in the drug money made by the Taliban today compared to the amount it was making in the 1990s, when it was in power. In Addiction, Crime and Insurgency, UNODC documents that a decade ago the Taliban earned $75-100 million per year by taxing opium poppy cultivation. Since 2005, the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan have derived $90-160 million per year just from taxing opium production and trade (a tithe known as ushr).

"Newly born narco-cartels in and around Afghanistan are blurring the difference between greed and ideology. Some profiteers in the heroin trade wear suits and white collars, other wear black turbans", said the head of UNODC. "Many of these drug barons, with links to insurgency, are known to Afghan and foreign intelligence services. Why have their names not been submitted to the Security Council, as required by resolutions 1735 and 1822, in order to ban their travel and seize their assets?"

Double nature of the Afghan drug flows
The double nature of the Afghan drug flows is sometimes forgotten. There are the physical quantities (tons of opium and heroin), that cause havoc to health in consuming nations: law enforcement concentrates on these flows. Then there are the value flows, the money made by criminals and insurgents involved in the illicit drug trade. "The perfect storm of drugs and terrorism that has struck the Afghan/Pakistan border for years, may be heading towards Central Asia. A big part of the region could be engulfed in large-scale terrorism, endangering its massive energy resources", warns the head of UNODC.

More deaths from drugs at home than on the battlefield
Surprising as it may seem, the human cost of addiction in consuming countries is higher than the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan's opium poppy fields. For example, in NATO countries, the number of people who die of heroin overdoses every year (more than 10,000) is five times higher than the total number of NATO troops that have been killed in Afghanistan in the past eight years.

More supply than demand
An anomalous but widely known fact is that, since 2006, much more opium has been produced in Afghanistan than is consumed worldwide. The report confirms that there is now an unaccounted stockpile of 12,000 tons of Afghan opium - enough to satisfy more than two years of world heroin demand. "With so much opium in evil hands, the need to locate and destroy these stocks is more urgent than ever", said Mr. Costa.

A final anomaly concerns the illicit drug trade and consumption: the numbers just do not add up. For instance India, despite having 800,000 addicts, does not report any inflow of raw opium: either vast quantities of domestic (licensed) production are diverted, opium poppy is being cultivated illicitly in India, or some of the Afghan opium is reaching the subcontinent.

Governments need to address all links in the chain
Addiction, Crime and Insurgency offers a perspective that is both deeper in scope and broader in geographical coverage than earlier UNODC work on Afghanistan. "The numbers are scary", said Mr. Costa, "Even more frightening is the fact that Governments have not recognized that they can only tackle this threat by addressing all links in the chain: assistance to farmers to reduce supply, drug prevention and treatment to curb demand, and law enforcement against intermediaries."

Reputation Comments on this post:

nice to get some numbers!

[enquirewithin]

VIENNA – The smuggling of Afghan opiates is fueling addiction and drug use along trafficking routes from Iran to Central Asia as well as spreading diseases and funding insurgents, the U.N. warned Wednesday.

Iran, Pakistan and Central Asian nations are among the most affected states but the negative impact of the multibillion-dollar Afghan narcotics flow is felt around the world as it continues to spread, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a new report.

"The Afghan opiate trade fuels consumption and addiction in countries along drug trafficking routes before reaching the main consumer markets in Europe (estimated at 3.1 million heroin users), contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases," the report said.
The illegal trade has also given a financial boost to Central Asian extremists that could further destabilize the area, UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa warned in remarks accompanying the report.

"The Silk Route, turned into a heroin route, is carving out a path of death and violence through one of the world's most strategic yet volatile regions," Costa said. "The perfect storm of drugs, crime and insurgency that has swirled around the Afghanistan/Pakistan border for years is heading for Central Asia."

While Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are the main trafficking route for Afghan heroin into the Russia, they also have growing domestic markets, the report warned.

In Iran, about 14 tons of Afghan heroin and a staggering 450 tons of opium were consumed locally in 2008, the report said, making it the world's biggest consumer of the drug.

"Iran faces the world's most serious opiate addiction problem, while injecting drug use in Central Asia is causing an HIV epidemic," UNODC said.
In Pakistan, the value of the opiate trade is estimated at $1 billion annually, with "undetermined amounts going to insurgents," UNODC said. Much like in Afghanistan, Pakistan-based insurgents reportedly levy taxes on businesses in this region and there is growing evidence that this extends the opiate trade, the Vienna-based organization added.
The Taliban is now making more money than when it was in power, the report said. Between 2005 and 2008, Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan drew between $90 million and $160 million annually from taxes and levies imposed on opium farmers and drug traffickers, UNODC estimated. The Taliban and other insurgents earned $75 million to $100 million a year a decade ago from taxing opium poppy cultivation, it said.

"The funds generated from the drugs trade can pay for soldiers, weapons and protection, and are an important source of patronage," it said.
Afghanistan produces 90 percent of the world's supply of opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin.
There are around 15.4 million opiate users worldwide, according to the agency's 2008 estimates. While global heroin consumption is estimated at 340 tons per year, equivalent to 2,600 tons of opium, raw opium consumption is estimated at 1,100 tons per year.
In other findings, the report highlighted the existence of an unaccounted stockpile of 12,000 tons of opium believed to be stored in Afghanistan and possibly also in transit and destination countries.

"Thus, even if opiate production in Afghanistan were to cease immediately, there would still be ample supply," the report said.
Speculation as to why this stash is being withheld from the market ranges from economic reasons to the possibility it is being used to fund insurgents or terrorist attacks, UNODC said.
"Afghan opiates have become a truly global commodity; one which doubles as a transnational threat to international security and global health," according to the report.
Afghan farmers earned $6.4 billion from opium poppy cultivation between 2002 and 2008, while Afghan traffickers made some $18 billion from local opiate processing and trading, the report's summary said.

In contrast, the transnational trade in Afghan opiates produced a total turnover of $400 to $500 billion during that period. The combined global heroin and opium market is worth some $65 billion per year, most of which is pocketed by criminals outside Afghanistan, UNODC said.

"The source of the trade is in Afghanistan, but its bulk takes place outside the country," it said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091021/...n_afghan_opium

[Alfa]

What if the UN is wrong and the world does consume 12.000 tons of Afghan opium per year?

[enquirewithin]

The production of opium is not going to decrease whilst the US/ NATO is in Afghanistan, anyway, so people junkies can consume all they want.

_________________________________________

The US military is in Afghanistan for two reasons. First to restore and control the world’s largest supply of opium for the world heroin markets and to use the drugs as a geopolitical weapon against opponents, especially Russia. That control of the Afghan drug market is essential for the liquidity of the bankrupt and corrupt Wall Street financial mafia.

Geopolitics of Afghan Opium

According even to an official UN report, opium production in Afghanistan has risen dramatically since the downfall of the Taliban in 2001. UNODC data shows more opium poppy cultivation in each of the past four growing seasons (2004-2007), than in any one year during Taliban rule. More land is now used for opium in Afghanistan, than for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 93% of the opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan. This is no accident.

It has been documented that Washington hand-picked the controversial Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun warlord from the Popalzai tribe, long in the CIA’s service, brought him back from exile in the USA, created a Hollywood mythology around his “courageous leadership of his people.” According to Afghan sources, Karzai is the Opium “Godfather” of Afghanistan today. There is apparently no accident that he was and is today still Washington’s preferred man in Kabul. Yet even with massive vote buying and fraud and intimidation, Karzai’s days could be ending as President....

America's Phoney War in Afghanistan, by F. William Engdahl

http://www.informationclearinghouse....icle23774.htm#

[enquirewithin]

JULIEN MERCILLE: The Bush and Obama administrations have declared their intention to fight drugs in Afghanistan, pointing to the fact that the Taliban obtain millions of dollars from production and trafficking. Do you think Washington really cares about eradicating drugs in Afghanistan, or does the "war on drugs" hide other motives? What do you think is the best way to deal with the drugs problem?

MALALAI JOYA: The opium industry of Afghanistan is solely designed by the United States. The drug business started long before in the 1980s during the Cold War, and the CIA worked hard to promote it in the areas under the control of the mujahideen. It is a joke when they are talking about counter-narcotics efforts while everyone knows that the production level goes up every year.

If they had been serious about fighting the drug business, they would not have installed the biggest drug-traffickers like Ahmad Wali Karzai, Qasim Fahim, Rashid Dostum, Atta Muhammad, Daud Daud, Burhanuddin Rabbani, and many others in the key positions of the puppet government.

Besides opium, Afghanistan is also tops in cannabis production. Actually the United States and its allies (especially the United Kingdom) gain the most out of the multi-billion drug business. Without their hidden support and encouragement, Afghanistan could never produce such a high level of drugs. What poor Afghan farmers and Taliban get out of the drugs is like a drop in the ocean!

No one in their right mind can believe that a superpower supported by over 40 counties is really unable to stop opium production in Afghanistan, while a small, ignorant, and backward force like the Taliban could easily ban it in 2001 and were able to reduce the production level to only 185 metric tons. But under the United States and its allies Afghanistan now produces over 8,500 tons of opium every year.

The best way to deal with the drugs problem is to end the U.S. occupation because these were the "gifts" of the occupation forces to Afghanistan. As long as occupation, druglordism, and warlordism (of both the Northern Alliance and Taliban) continue, the opium industry will flourish.....

MALALAI JOYA: Afghan lives have been getting worse since 2001. The current situation of Afghanistan is a disaster and is getting worse.

People suffer from such extreme insecurity that many have stopped sending their children to school, especially girls, fearing that they might be kidnapped or raped.

The cultivation and trafficking of narcotics and the rule of the drug mafia is among the biggest challenges Afghans face today. In the past eight years the production of opium was increased by over 4,400% and now Afghanistan is the opium capital of the world. Many of the top drug dealers are part of the Karzai government and they enjoy immunity.

from an interview with human rights activist Malalai Joya by Julien Mercille, | October 16, 2009

http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/6505