USE OF SYNTHETIC DRUGS, AFGHAN OPIUM, RISING, UN WARNS

VIENNA (Reuters) -- The use of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy is booming
among the party-goers of the rich world, according to the United Nations.

In a report being released today, the UN International Narcotics Control
Board also said that Afghanistan was back as top producer of opium used for
heroin and made about 3,500 tonnes in 2002, 100 tonnes more than in 2001.

"Synthetic drugs like ecstasy could become the main illicit drugs of the
future," the board said in its annual report.

"The INCB has therefore launched a major initiative to stop the chemicals
needed to make synthetic drugs such as ecstasy from reaching clandestine
laboratories where they are made."

Popular synthetic amphetamine and methamphetamine drugs such as ecstasy
stimulate the central nervous system.

Research indicates they cause irreversible brain damage, the INCB said.

These drugs are difficult to control because they can be made cheaply and
easily anywhere in the world, provided manufacturers can get the necessary
chemicals from legal manufacturers or by recruiting companies to produce
the ingredients illicitly.

There are no clear estimates of the volume of synthetic drug trafficking.

However, the INCB said "large seizures of such drugs indicate that there is
a constant supply and high availability."

After a U.S. military strike toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, the UN had
high hopes that democratic reforms and personal loans could induce Afghan
farmers to commit long-term to legal crops.

"There were a lot ideas and optimism about Afghanistan," INCB secretary
Herbert Schaepe told reporters in Vienna.

"Unfortunately, we have seen the contrary."

He said the loan idea never got off the ground as farmers focused on the
quicker and better profits from opium production.

With the increased supply, there also has been an increase in opiate
addiction in the region.

"Opiate addiction rates in Iran and Pakistan continue to be among the
highest in the world," the report says.

Directly linked to intravenous use of heroin and other drugs is the problem
of soaring HIV infections, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe.

The report concludes that while there may be short-term profits for
developing countries in the production of illicit drugs, poorer nations get
short shrift in the end. The illicit drug production appears to result in
lower economic growth and higher crime and violence.