COCAINE, HEROIN USE FALLS BUT AMPHETAMINES UP

VIENNA Cocaine and heroin abuse is diminishing worldwide but consumption
of amphetamines is growing, the United Nations says.

A report published by the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention
said the increase in amphetamine use was mainly in Europe and Asia, with
developed countries the main suppliers.

In the United States, drug use fell 40% from 1985 to 1999, with cocaine use
falling 70%. Officials with the drug agency said much of the reduction was
a result of increased government spending on prevention and treatment. The
amount climbed from $US855 million ($NZ1.929 billion) in 1985 to $US5.6
billion in 1999, the equivalent of $US20 a person.

Across the globe, an estimated 180 million people were consuming drugs in
the late 1990s - more than 4% of all people aged 15 and above. At least 134
countries and territories were faced with a drug abuse problem.

Not only was cocaine and heroin abuse declining but the area where poppy
was grown for opium - the source of heroin - was at its smallest since
1988, the report said.

Afghanistan was the provider of more than 75% of the world's opium.

Drug control officials praised neighbouring Pakistan for its success in
ending poppy production. "Pakistan is this year's big success story,"
Bernard Frahi, regional director of the UN Drug Control Programme, told
reporters in the capital, Islamabad. Pakistan produced 800 tons of opium in
1979 but only a negligible amount in 2000, he said.

Among other positive developments noted in the report:

Bolivia has reduced the area under illicit coca production by 78% since 1997.

Authorities in Peru have cut illicit exports of cocaine by 50% over the
last decade.

Laos remains the world's third largest producer of opium but has cut its
output by 30% over the past 18 months.

Opium poppy production in Vietnam has been reduced by 90% over the past decade.

In contrast, Afghanistan produced about 5000 tonnes of opium in 1999 - a
world record. The amount was down in 2000, due to a crackdown by the ruling
Taleban and a devastating drought.

The report said the drug agency aimed to phase out poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan over the next five years, providing education, health
facilities and employment outside the agricultural sector to realise that goal.

The most widely consumed drug worldwide was still cannabis but heroin and
cocaine were the costliest in terms of treatment, hospitalisation and
drug-related violence.

Some 14 million people worldwide were estimated to take cocaine. Its use
had declined in the United States, but that country was still the world's
largest cocaine market.

The report also revealed a growing tendency toward the use of synthetic
drugs, specifically amphetamine-type stimulants and, in particular, ecstasy.