Afghanistan again world's leading opium producer

Jun 26, 2007, 7:35 GMT

Vienna - Afghanistan is now producing 90 per cent of the world's opium crop, a report by the UN drugs office said Tuesday.

In its annual report released Tuesday, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said Afghanistan pushed global opium production to a new record high, increasing its yield by nearly 50 per cent to 6,700 tons in 2006.

The country is responsible for 92 per cent of the world's illicit opium production the main ingredient for heroin. One decade ago, Afghanistan's share had been 52 per cent. Global opium production rose to 7,300 tons in 2006, an increase of 43 per cent compared with 2005's report.

In Afghanistan, cultivation is concentrated in the southern provinces with especially Helmand becoming a centre of opium production, UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa warned in a statement.

'Effective surgery on Helmand's drug and insurgency cancer will rid the world of the most dangerous source of its most dangerous narcotic and go a long way to bringing security to the region,' Costa said.

On the positive side, the report noted that for the sixth consecutive year, opium cultivation diminished in South-East Asia from 67 per cent in 1998 to just 12 per cent in 2006. A major factor in the decline was reduced cultivation in Myanmar, the report said.

With the exception of opium, the production, trafficking and consumption of other illicit drugs stabilized on a global level.

A total of 5 per cent of the world's population aged between 15 and 64 used drugs at least once during the previous 12 months the report said. Of these approximately 200 million people, an estimated 25 million were heavily drug dependent the report said.