U.N. SEES OPIUM ELIMINATED IN 10 YEARS

VIENNA, Oct 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations could eliminate global
opium and coca cultivation in the next 10 years, the U.N.'s chief
drugs fighter said on Monday.

Pino Arlacchi, executive director of the United Nations Drug Control
Programme (UNDCP), said significant progress had already been made in
restricting supply.

``This year we have already had a decline in drugs production in
Afghanistan, Peru and Bolivia and stability in Colombia,'' he said in
an interview with Reuters. ``I think it is feasible to achieve our
target in 10 years.''

Arlacchi said governments had strengthened their resolve to fight drug
cultivation, as shown by a decrease in production in most countries.

``That means that the international awareness that drug crops are
illegal and immoral is more and more widespread,'' he said. ``That is
why I am so confident we can achieve our goal.''

Arlacchi, a former Italian senator who was instrumental in the
crackdown on the mafia, last year negotiated a deal with the Taleban
militia in Afghanistan to stop opium production in areas it controls
in return for help in the cultivation of other crops.

Afghanistan produces about 50 percent of the world's opium and 80
percent of the supply to Europe. Opium poppies are farmed for the
production of heroin, while coca leaf crops are the raw material for
cocaine.

Arlacchi's strategy is based on focusing on the supply of heroin and
cocaine, which he says remains strong while demand has fallen sharply,
apparently due to efforts to educate potential users about the risks.

``Heroin costs half what it did 10 years ago,'' he
said.

It makes more sense to try to stop the flow of drugs when it is like a
narrow stream rather than when it hits the ``ocean'' of the European
street market, Arlacchi said.

He noted that this year the Taleban destroyed two tonnes of opium, the
equivalent of 200 kg of heroin, in return for $3 million in UNDCP aid
for crop cultivation.

Arlacchi said the heroin would have had a street value in Europe of
some $200 million. ``This is the reason why I think, strategically, we
have to work with the Taleban.''

The UNDCP has fewer than 300 staff spread over 26 countries and an
annual budget of some $65 million, which is dwarfed by worldwide
turnover in the drugs trade of some $400 billion.

Arlacchi admits the UNDCP faced a mammoth task. ``We are a small
player,'' he said.

But he pointed to recent success in exposing and cracking down on drug
barons in Colombia and Sicily and said his organisation had the
backing of the international community.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady