DRUG ABUSE ON THE RISE

A UNITED NATIONS report published this week on the world's illegal drug
markets showed production has fallen in Asia's notorious Golden Triangle,
but the use of cannabis and synthetic drugs like ecstasy is on the rise.

The report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) coincided with the
launch yesterday of a global drive to sensitise young people to the problem
on International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, marked
every June 26.

UNODC, which focused on production, traffic and consumption of illicit
drugs in 2001 to 2002, found mixed results, depending on the drug and the
region.

Poor results were notably in "transition" countries unable to rein in a
lucrative drug economy.

While opium cultivation was down in the Golden Triangle states of Myanmar
and Laos, it was back up in in post-Taliban Afghanistan, causing shifts in
abuse patterns.

Heroin from Afghanistan pumping into former Eastern bloc states was
accompanied by a rise in intravenous heroin abuse and an "alarming"
increase in the HIV-Aids epidemic, said UNODC executive director Antonio
Maria Costa.

"Overall, the evolution of world heroin and cocaine markets shows some
positive tendencies. The picture is confused for synthetic drugs and fairly
negative for cannabis," the report said.

"On the side of abuse, there are important developments, especially in
Europe, Russia and the Far East."

The update confirmed " the emergence of amphetamine-type-stimulants, known
as ATS -- synthetic drugs like amphetamine, metamphetamine and ecstasy --
as the 'public enemy number one' of illicit drugs".

"Most countries reporting on ecstasy saw increasing levels of abuse," the
report said.

In 1998, the UN General Assembly gave itself 10 years to "make significant
progress towards the control of supply and demand for illicit drugs" and
the annual update aims to help policy-makers.

Of the two main culprits, heroin and cocaine, which create "the worst
health consequences", the UNODC review said the global heroin market
remained stable, with about 15 million abusers worldwide.

Opium poppy production has dropped 40 percent in Myanmar and Laos since
1998. If this continues, it could make the southeast Asian Golden Triangle
"a minor source of illicit opium in the next few years" and "close a
century-long chapter in the history of drug control," the report said.

But opium production saw a 16 percent rise in southwest Asia, notably
post-war Afghanistan, that in turn has reshaped abuse patterns.

"Heroin abuse has declined in East Asia, Oceania and West Europe, but
continued to increase in the countries located on the Afghan
heroin-trafficking route towards Russia and Eastern Europe," the report said.

It noted that the recent G8 meeting in France and the UN Security Council
had reaffirmed pledges to help Kabul "implement the opium production ban".

As for cocaine, with 14 million abusers worldwide, efforts remain focused
on Colombia, producer of three-quarters of the world's illicit supply.

After a six-year rise in production, Columbia now showed "a very
significant reduction" of coca bush for the second year, while among other
regional suppliers Peru has seen a 60 percent drop and Bolivia is now a
"marginal source".

"If this trend persists there could be a major change in the dynamics of
world cocaine supply," the report said.

And although cocaine abuse declined in the United States, the drug's top
market, the report voiced concern about greater use in west Europe and
South America.

Cannabis "continues to be the most widely produced, trafficked and consumed
illicit drug worldwide," with seizures up by 40 percent from 1998 to 2001,
the report said.

It noted "positive trends", notably in the US, where use among secondary
school students has dropped by 30 percent since the 1970s.

In Australia, cannabis abuse declined overall by 23 percent from 1998 to 2001.

The market for easily produced ATS synthetic drugs continued to develop,
even though "more laboratories were detected and dismantled worldwide over
the last few years than ever before," notably in the US.

Europe, particularly the Netherlands, Poland and Belgium, remains the
centre of illegal amphetamine production, which the report said was also on
the rise in Eastern Europe.

Though ecstasy trafficking saw a sharp rise in the 1990s, seizures were
down in 2001. Western Europe, notably Belgium and the Netherlands, where
use is up, remains the main global producer but other areas, including
southeast Asia, South Africa and the Middle East, appear to be edging in on
the market, the report said. -- Sapa-AFP