Global production of opium fell 38 percent last year as plant disease hit crops in top producer Afghanistan, but output in No. 2 producer Myanmar rose sharply, the UN said on Thursday.
In its annual World Drug Report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said heroin consumption has stabilized in Europe, while cocaine consumption has declined in North America, which it described as “the most lucrative markets” for those drugs.
However, there were worrying trends: a big increase in cocaine use in Europe and South America over the past decade, the recent expansion of heroin use in Africa and the increased abuse of synthetic “designer drugs” and prescription drugs in places.
Yury Fedotov, UNODC’s executive director, said in the report there had been some progress in preventing drug use and said more should be done to promote “healthy and fulfilling alternatives” so that drug use was not accepted as a way of life.
“On the demand side, there is growing recognition that we must draw a line between criminals [drug traffickers] and their victims [drug users], and that treatment for drug use offers a far more effective cure than punishment,” he added.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a speech at the report’s launch in New York that drug addicts should not face discrimination, but should receive medical aid and counseling.
“Drug addiction is a disease, not a crime,” he said.
Various plant diseases combined to cut Afghanistan’s opium production in half last year and UNODC said production could fall a little further this year.
The country accounted for 74 percent of global opium production last year, down from 88 percent in 2009.
Meanwhile, Myanmar’s share of global output hit 12 percent, up from 5 percent in 2007. The area under cultivation there fell by 21 percent to 185,900 hectares between 2007 and 2009, but it rose to 195,700 hectares last year, UNODC said.
The military rulers of the country formerly called Burma said in March that nearly one-sixth of the country’s illicit opium crop had been destroyed.
A nominally civilian government has taken over since, but the army still pulls the strings behind the scenes. Analysts say several top generals enjoy close ties with Burmese businesspeople linked to the opium trade.
The global area under coca cultivation shrank last year, declining 6 percent to 149,100 hectares. UNODC said cocaine production had fallen sharply in Colombia since 2007, which offset increases in Peru and Bolivia.
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