International - World Drug Report 2007

[Alfa]

[top]UN drug agency reports "significant and positive changes" in world drugs markets. Countries urged to provide greater health care to drug addicts.

VIENNA, 26 June 2007 (UNODC) - Whereas a few years ago the world appeared to be heading for an epidemic of drug abuse, growing evidence suggests that the problem is being brought under control, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said on Tuesday.
"Recent data show that the run-away train of drug addiction has slowed down," he said in a statement marking the launch of UNODC's 2007 World Drug Report.
The Report shows global markets for illicit drugs remained largely stable in 2005-06. "For almost all drugs - cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines - there are signs of overall stability, whether we speak of production, trafficking or consumption," Mr Costa said.
Coca cultivation in the Andes continues to decline and global cocaine consumption has stabilised, although the reduction in the United States is offset by alarming increases in Europe.
The market for amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) such as ecstasy has also been contained, with levels of production and abuse stable in many countries. For the first time in decades, global statistics do not show an increase in world production and 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 just high," the UNODC Executive Director said.
While there are growing signs that both the supply of and demand for drugs are broadly stable and greater efforts are being made to reduce the harm they cause, the situation could easily deteriorate again. "We cannot take our foot off the brake. Drug prevention and effective health care for addicts remain vital," Mr Costa said.
Opium production in Afghanistan remains a major problem: cultivation increased dramatically in 2006, offsetting remarkable successes in eliminating other sources of opium supply, especially in South-East Asia. "In Afghanistan opium is a security issue, more than a drug issue," said the UN's drugs chief.
"The Helmand province, severely threatened by insurgency, is becoming the world's biggest drug supplier, with illicit cultivation larger than in the rest of the country put together and even than entire nations such as Myanmar or even Colombia," he added. "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."
Globally, coordinated drug law enforcement has driven up the volumes of drug seizures. More than 45 percent of the cocaine produced in the world is now being intercepted (up from 24% in 1999) and more than a quarter of all heroin (against 15% in 1999).
Traffickers are seeking new routes, for example through Africa. "Africa is under attack, targeted by cocaine traffickers from the West (Colombia) and heroin smugglers in the East (Afghanistan)," Mr Costa said. "This threat needs to be addressed quickly to stamp out organized 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."
Seizing cannabis and ATS is proving difficult because of short supply routes. "Police should be on the look out for drug labs and indoor cannabis plantations, even in the middle of wealthy cities," Mr Costa warned.
If the drug problem is to be reduced in the longer term, there must be more preventive interventions and the problem must be treated at its source - the drug users. "The lives of at least one out of every 200 people in the world are ruled by drugs," Mr Costa said. "Drug addiction is an illness that must, and can, be prevented and treated. Early detection tests, better therapies and the integration of drug treatment into public health and social services programmes can free people from their dependence on drugs. Treating those who suffer from drugs is an investment in the health of our nations as much as treating HIV, diabetes or TB," he said.
Mr Costa urged the world to change the way it looks at the drugs problem and focus as much on defending people's health as on destroying illicit crops and criminal networks. This is a shared responsibility: internationally - between producing and consuming states; regionally - among neighbouring countries; and nationally - among all sectors of society.

For further information contact:

Richard Murphy

UNODC Spokesman

Tel +43 1 26060 5761 Mobile +43 699 1459 5761

richard.murphy@unodc.org

[Alfa]

A new entry has been added to Drugs Archive

Description: UN drug agency reports "significant and positive changes" in world drugs markets. Countries urged to provide greater health care to drug addicts.

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[podge]

Originally Posted by Alfa

[h1] Mr Costa said.
"The much greater number of pot smokers seeking treatment shows that the new strains of high-potency cannabis make people sick, not just high,"

I hate hearing such blatent lies from the people who are meant to be tackling the drugs issue on a worldwide scale. Will this bullshit war ever end ?.... enevitably yes....the world will have to face common sense eventually , but will it happen within our lifetime ? Weve had enough casualties.

[enquirewithin]

Costa seems to be changing the criteria for success! Previously the UN was seeking a drug free world (an unrealistic idea)-- now, apparently, it's 'containment.'

In last year's World Drug Report we made the argument that drug control is working and the world drug problem is being contained. This 2007 Report provides further robust evidence of this trend. For almost every kind of illicit drug - cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamine- type stimulants (ATS) - there are signs of overall stability,

Even this is hard to believe.

[Heretic.Ape.]

Going from eradication to containment is at least a step in the right direction toward a more reasonable appraoch. Now if we can do away with the blatant fear mongering propaganda lies...that would be swell.

[Alfa]

Countries urged to provide greater health care to drug addicts.

This is at least a new and positive sound coming from the UN.

[Lunar Loops]

What a crock, they still firmly believe that their policies are working (or at least that's what they want to portray publicly). The following is a fine tongue in cheek editorial from The Economist rebuking such claims and basically outlining how the drug trade basically operates much like any other multinational business (obviously without the legality). It's all about supply and demand and current enforcement measures are akin to pissing in the proverbial wind:

Narcotics
Highs and lows

Jun 26th 2007
From Economist.com
Is the narcotics industry in trouble?




FOR decades business has been booming. Over the years rival operators have found ways to lift production, they have devised inventive supply chains that reach across the globe and have expanded markets so that they supply loyal consumers in almost every country. Estimates are hard to confirm, not least because enterprises have been reluctant to open their accounts to public scrutiny, but the industry was thought to claim global annual sales of some $320 billion in 2005 (tax free). And although some better-known trade bodies (the Medellin and Cali cocaine cartels, for example) have been forced to close shop, largely as a result of tough state regulation, the industry as a whole remains in rude health.
But are the heady days coming to an end? A UN report released on Tuesday June 26th suggests that prospects for expansion in parts of the industry are dim. Although 5% of adults are thought to have taken illicit drugs of some sort over the past year, the use of softer brands such as cannabis and amphetamines has apparently reached a peak. In America, for example, cannabis use was highest in 1979 when more than 16% of the general population took it. By 2005 that had declined to just 10.4% of the population.
As troubling for the industry, many consumers in the extremely important American market are turning up their noses at cocaine. By 2005 cocaine use in America was down to 2.3% of the general population, more than 50% lower than the rate two decades ago. Compounding woes in that sector producers of coca (the raw material for cocaine) have seen cultivation decline in recent years. At its peak in 2000 some 221,300 hectares were under coca cultivation in Latin America. Last year that had dropped to just 159,600 hectares.
Stagnant growth in these sectors is troubling for the industry. As great a concern, however, may be logistics. The supply chain is coming under greater scrutiny from regulators who wield powers that are the envy of watchdogs in other industries. Fiercer regulation by law-enforcement agencies and, increasingly, by armies and navies, is deterring some producers and sellers, for example those coca-growers in Latin America. The UN report suggests that, globally, seizures of cocaine and heroin have leapt since 1999. In some quarters, programmes to persuade impoverished farmers to switch to legal crops have curbed supplies of raw materials.
One part of the industry, however, seems to be blossoming as never before. The heroin sector is enjoying a consumer boom in many countries, coinciding with record production in Afghanistan. In 2006 the global output of opium which is used to make heroin, the hardest of drugs, reached an all-time-high, with producers in Afghanistan dominating the market (see chart). In the 1980s the country produced just 30% of the world’s opium supply, but it has since—despite years of war—boosted output significantly and now accounts for 92% of world supply. A single province, Helmand, is said to have 70,000 hectares of opium under cultivation. In Afghanistan, at least, efforts to persuade farmers to turn to legal but less profitable crops have had no effect whatsoever.

But heroin producers and traders aside, enterprises within the illegal industry may now seek alternative ways to keep profits up. If the drugs business is indeed slowing, then the gangs, such as the Mafia, may have to compete more fiercely, perhaps engaging in hostile takeovers. Crime bosses battling for a bigger share of a slow-growing market is likely to mean much blood on the carpet. An alternative approach could be to diversify, with enterprises using their talents and infrastructure to peddle other forms of contraband such as cigarettes, pharmaceutical drugs, endangered animals, or human slaves. The UN report suggests such diversification is already underway.
The smartest entrepreneurs, however, may seek a way out of the illegal industry all together. Despite those profits, it is a tough world in which to operate. Asserting property rights is often a question of gaining and maintaining a reputation for the utmost brutality. Secrecy restricts the pool from which bosses can draw the kind of talented and pitiless managers they need. As for the consumers, quality control and service is in the hands of suppliers of dubious merit. Now the opportunities for growth—heroin aside—seem limited in the industry.To counter the problems, crime gangs now seem a lot more decentralised than in the past says to the report. Perhaps this is the shift in management style that will help them to survive.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Awesome.

[Trebor]

Laos no longer produces opium?

[enquirewithin]

The north must produce some, but apparently not in significant accounts.