HEROIN SURGE TIED TO END OF TALIBAN

The overthrow of the Taliban has caused Melbourne's illegal heroin trade to
flourish, says a government minister.

Victorian Police Minister Andre Haermeyer said the greater supply of heroin
on the city's streets was the result of a 21-fold increase in the Afghan
poppy crop since the fall of the Taliban last year. The fundamentalist
Islamic Taliban regime had cut the country's annual poppy crop to 185
tonnes before the September 11 terrorist attacks but it had increased to
3400 tonnes since the regime was overthrown, Mr Haermeyer said. The Howard
Government needed to pressure the US to strangle the heroin trade within
Afghanistan, he said.

But federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said reports of an increase in
heroin in Victoria were largely anecdotal. Concerns over increased opium
production failed to recognise that most of Afghanistan's heroin went to
the US and Europe, he said.