NEW REALISM

THE global drug problem is neither unstoppable nor irreversible. World Drug
Report 2000 - the work of the Vienna-based UN Office for Drug Control and
Crime Prevention - identifies significant downward trends in the production
of the two main problem drugs: cocaine and heroin. Coca leaf production and
cocaine manufacturing fell by some 20 per cent between 1993 and 1999, it
says, while opium production dropped over 17 per cent last year. The report
says that coca and opium production is now limited to fewer countries than
ever before. Afghanistan and Myanmar together account for about 90 per cent
of illicit global opium production with Colombia alone responsible for
two-thirds of the production of coca leaf. But drug trafficking has
proliferated due to globalisation: the number of countries reporting
seizures rose from 120 in 1981 to 170 in 1998. Money laundering from drug
trafficking, corruption and other forms of organised crimes represent an
estimated two or five per cent of the world's gross domestic product - or
$1 trillion.

Transnational crime has gone beyond what governments and the general public
are prepared to accept.

The time has come to change the way people think about drugs.

The world community must end the psychology of despair that has gripped the
minds of a generation and instead focus on a pragmatic, long-term approach
to reducing both the supply of and demand for illicit drugs. Drugs account
for between a third and a half of all money laundering operations but
corruption was equally rampant.

The UN report estimates that some 180 million people - 4.2 per cent of all
persons aged 15 years and above - were consuming drugs in the late 1990s.
Cannabis headed the list (144 million users), followed by amphetamine-type
stimulants (29 million), cocaine (14 million) and opiates (13.5 million,
including nine million heroin addicts). Due to multiple drug use, these
numbers do not add up to the 180 million global estimate. The report also
points to the broader implications of the world's drug problem, including
the spread of HIV/Aids and other diseases, money laundering, corruption and
financing of insurgents and terrorists. The eradication of drug production
has to be accompanied by a range of other measures like poverty
alleviation, conflict resolution, mediation and institution building.