COCAINE, HEROIN PRODUCTION ON DOWNWARD TREND-UN

VIENNA, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Production of cocaine and heroin, the world's
main problem drugs, is falling substantially and has narrowed to fewer
countries than ever, the United Nations said in its millennium World Drug
Report 2000 on Monday.

But the research conducted by the Vienna-based U.N. Office for Drug Control
and Crime Prevention also found that demand for amphetamine-type stimulants
saw a strong upward trend worldwide over the last decade.

The UN said coca leaf and cocaine manufacturing fell some 20 percent between
1992 and 1999, while opium production fell more than 17 percent in the past
year alone. The area under coca cultivation was some 14 percent smaller in
1999 than in 1990.

The major consumer markets also stabilised or even saw a decline in numbers.

"The time has come to change the way we think about drugs," ODCCP Executive
Director Pino Arlacchi said in a statement.

"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."

Supported by a "get serious" approach by most major coca and opium poppy
producing countries, production was increasingly concentrated in an ever
smaller number of countries.

"The tenet that if you shut down production in one country it will balloon
in another does not seem to be confirmed in trends in the last few years,"
said Sandro Tucci, ODCCP press spokesman, told a news conference.

Afghanistan and Myanmar accounted for 90 percent of illicit opium production
in recent years, with the former responsible for over three-quarters of
global opium production in 1999.

Colombia, Peru and Bolivia account for almost all coca leaf production, with
Colombia in charge of two-thirds of global coca leaf production in 1999 and
around 80 percent of the world's cocaine manufacture.

The report said drug trafficking had fanned out as a result of globalisation
and the number of countries reporting seizures increased to 170 in 1997/98
from 120 in 1980/81.

The U.N. reckons that roughly 180 million people, or 4.2 percent of the
world's population aged 15 and over, consumed drugs in the late 1990s.

Cannabis was the drug of choice with some 144 million users, followed by
amphetamine-type stimulants (29 million), cocaine (14 million) and opiates
(13.5 million). The figures do not add up to the 180 million estimate
because many users consume different types of drug.

The most marked increase worldwide in drug consumption in the last decade
was of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) such as methamphetamine and
Ecstasy.

The report gave no details but said the increase was notably in Europe and,
if methamphetamine is included, in east and southeast asia and North
America.

Although most prevalent in Europe, ecstasy abuse has increased across all
continents, the report said.

Cocaine use in the United States fell around 70 percent during 1985-1999,
while overall drug use dropped 40 percent. In Germany, heroin abuse was
stable and in Spain and Italy it fell in the last decade.

The report said success in alternative development programmes had brought
about a substantial reduction of coca and opium poppy cultivation in
Bolivia, Pakistan, Laos and Thailand.

In Bolivia, the area under coca cultivation had fallen by 78 percent in only
three years; Pakistan, one of the main producers in the early 1980s, was
almost poppy-free by 2000; Laos, the world's third largest producer of
opium, had reduced the area of cultivation by 30 percent in the last three
years; and Thailand had ceased to be a major producer of opium.