In its annual report on world drug use, the UN said that global markets for cocaine, opiates and marijuana are holding steady or in decline.
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the worlds opium is grown, dropped by 19 percent last year, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported Wednesday.
There was a 28 percent decline in production of cocaine in Colombia, which produces half of the worlds cocaine, the report said.
However, while these trends were “encouraging”, UNODC pointed out that amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) – which include amphetamines, methamphetamines and ecstasy – were on the rise. Seizures of the drugs increased in 2008 and a growing number of countries are producing them.
Since ATS and cannabis could be produced anywhere in the world, the report admitted it was more difficult to track production, unlike with heroin and cocaine where opium poppy and coca leaf fields were easy to detect.
UNDOC says that “…amphetamine style drugs had become widespread in Saudi Arabia, with immigrant workers using them to get through long days driving taxis or trucks and higher income groups are taking such narcotics for recreation”.
The UN agency also notes that “Canada has become a major trafficking hub for meth and ecstasy” and highlights a big increase in the use of synthetic drugs in South-East Asia and the Middle East.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
