AFGHAN OPIUM PRODUCTION UP 50 PER CENT IN ONE YEAR

Afghanistan increased its opium production by 49 per cent in one year
according to a new UN report.

The war-torn country's poppy crops dramatically rose in 2006,
increasing the country's yield by roughly 49 per cent from a year
earlier and pushing global opium production to a new record high.

Opium production in Afghanistan increased from 4,100 metric tons in
2005 to 6,100 metric tons in 2006, according to the 2007 World Drug
Report released by the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime. Opium is the main ingredient for heroin.

In 2006, Afghanistan accounted for 92 per cent of global illicit
opium production, up from 70 per cent in 2000 and 52 per cent a decade earlier.

The higher yields in Afghanistan have brought global opium production
to a new record high of 6,610 metric tons in 2006, a 43 per cent
increase over 2005.

The area under opium poppy cultivation in the country also expanded,
from 104,000 hectares (257,000 acres) in 2005, to 165,000 hectares
(407,715 acres) in 2006 - an increase of about 59 per cent.

"This is the largest area under opium poppy cultivation ever recorded
in Afghanistan," the report said, noting that 62 per cent of the
cultivation was concentrated in the country's southern region.

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN drug office, warned
that Afghanistan's insurgency-plagued Helmand province was becoming
the world's biggest drug supplier, with illicit cultivation there
larger than in the rest of the country put together.

"Effective surgery on Helmand's drug and insurgency cancer will rid
the world of the most dangerous source of its most dangerous narcotic
and go a long way to bringing security to the region," Costa said in
a statement.

Early indications suggest Afghanistan could see a further increase in
opium production in 2007, the report said.

"Developments in Afghanistan will continue to determine the levels of
global opium production," the report said.

An increase in Afghanistan's opium cultivation in 2006 offset the
sixth straight year of decline in opium cultivation in Southeast Asia.

Since 1998, Southeast Asia's share of world opium poppy cultivation
has fallen from 67 per cent to just 12 per cent in 2006, much of this
due to large declines in cultivation in Myanmar, the report said.

Based on 2006 figures, Myanmar now represents just 11 per cent of the
world opium poppy cultivation.

The annual report also found that the production, trafficking and
consumption of other illicit drugs have largely stabilized globally
and that the estimated level of global drug use has remained more or
less unchanged for the third year in a row.

Approximately 200 million people - or 5 per cent of the world's
population aged between 15 and 64 - used drugs at least once in the
previous 12 months, it said.

Of those, an estimated 25 million - or 0.6 per cent of the global
population - were so-called problem drug users, or individuals who
are heavily drug dependent. That estimate also remained unchanged.

"Recent data show that the runaway train of drug addiction has slowed
down," Costa said.

Cannabis continues to account for the vast majority of illegal drug
use and is consumed by some 160 million people, the report said, but
noted that the most recent global use estimates have decreased
slightly due to ongoing declines in North America and - for the first
time - some declines in the largest cannabis markets of Western Europe.

"Although it is too early to speak of general decline, signs of a
stabilization of cannabis use at the global level are apparent," the
report said, noting that growth in cannabis use occurred in Africa,
parts of South America and Asia, as well as parts of Eastern and
Southeastern Europe.

Amphetamine-type stimulants - including ecstasy - remain the
second-most widely consumed group of substances. Over the 2005-2006
period, some 25 million people are estimated to have used
amphetamines at least once in the previous 12 months, about the same
as a year earlier.

While global cocaine production is estimated to have remained
basically unchanged in 2006 as compared to one or two years earlier,
estimates for the production of both cannabis herb and cannabis resin
showed a decline for the year 2005, the report said.

While the area under coca cultivation in the Andean region declined
by 29 per cent when compared to the year 2000, the progress did not
translate into a decline of global cocaine production due to improved
yields and production techniques.

Countries reported 1.5 million drug seizure cases to the UN drug
office for the year 2005, 21 per cent more than a year earlier, the
report said.

But traffickers are using new routes. Africa, for example, is
increasingly being exploited by drug traffickers, the report said.

"This threat needs to be addressed quickly to stamp out organized
crime, money laundering and corruption and to prevent the spread of
drug use that could cause havoc across a continent already plagued by
many other tragedies," Costa said.