UN WARNING ON AFGHAN POPPY TRADE

Much Of Europe's Heroin Comes From Afghanistan

Afghanistan remains the world's largest producer of opium despite efforts
to tackle the problem by the Afghan government and the international
authorities, the UN drugs agency says.

A new survey by the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
says dismantling the Afghan opium economy will be a long and complex process.

The problem is deeply rooted in Afghan society Afghanistan produced almost
three quarters of the world's opium in 2002, the report says.

This, despite a comprehensive ban on drug production and trade by the
Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The report says measures taken by the Afghan government are crucial steps
towards solving the drug issue, but it says more needs to be done to tackle
a problem that's deeply rooted in Afghan society, after decades of civil
and military strife.

Democratic Structures

The Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said
growing opium has become a way of life for many of the most vulnerable Afghans.

Poor farmers, traders, women and children, he says, remain at the mercy of
Afghan warlords and international criminal gangs.

The report stresses the importance of providing better jobs and education,
particularly for women and children.

Mr Costa says it is not enough to tackle the symptoms of the problem. The
trade and production in opium, he says, can only be tackled by democratic
structures, the rule of law and development.