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| | UN drugs chief sounds warning about Afghan opium production, cocaine consumption in Europe |
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date: Jul 4th 2006 11:51
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Cocaine consumption in western Europe is reaching alarming levels while opium production in Afghanistan could rise again this year despite a welcome decline in 2005,
the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Antonio Maria Costa, said on Monday.
UNODC s 2006 World Drug Report showed global opium production fell five percent in 2005 while cocaine production was broadly stable. Seizures of both drugs, especially cocaine, reached record highs. Consumption of cannabis, the most widely used illicit drug, continued to increase while the market for amphetamine-type stimulants stabilised. Africa is growing in importance for trans-shipments of cocaine and heroin to Europe.
Presenting the World Drug Report at the National Press Club in Washington, the UNODC Executive Director said trends in the global drugs market were moving in the right direction but governments needed to step up their efforts to reduce both supply and demand.
Drug control is working and the world drug problem is being contained, he said.
This is true whether we look over the long term or even just over the past few years. Humanity has entered the 21 st century with much lower levels of drug cultivation and drug addiction than 100 years earlier. Even more importantly, in the past few years, worldwide efforts to reduce the threat posed by illicit drugs have halted a quarter-century-long rise in drug abuse that, if left unchecked, could have become a global pandemic.
Laos, which until the mid-1990s was the third largest illicit opium producer in the world, slashed opium cultivation by 72 percent in 2005 and is on the verge of becoming opium-free. Laos has made spectacular progress which has not received the attention it deserves, Mr Costa said.
However, the UNODC head highlighted three key weaknesses in the global drug control situation: heroin supply in Afghanistan, cocaine demand in Europe and cannabis supply/demand everywhere.
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article 'UN drugs chief sounds warning about Afghan opium production, cocaine consumption in Europe' source is United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, visit source site:
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