Africa top transit area for drugs

2007-03-01 07:23

Philippe Schwab

Vienna - Africa has become one of the main crossroads in the traffic of heroin and cocaine, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its annual report published on Thursday.

"Taking advantage of the weak interdiction capacities in Africa, drug trafficking networks are using the region as a transit area for smuggling cocaine from South America... (and) heroin from west and southeast Asia" to Europe and North America, the Vienna-based INCB said.

Cocaine trafficking in Africa is "a particularly worrisome development", said the organisation, which monitors the implementation of United Nations drug control conventions. It pointed out that cocaine was often exchanged for heroin before being shipped to Asia.

Cocaine use rising

Cocaine consumption has seen a jump in Europe, now the second largest illicit market in the world after the United States, with a particularly high prevalence rate in Spain and Britain.

It is also on the rise in Asia, especially among the new wealthy classes in India and Hong Kong.

The total surface of land dedicated to cocaine production however seems to have stabilised 28% below the 2000 level, the INCB noted.

The production of opium - the raw ingredient of heroin - continues to grow in Afghanistan, by far the largest producer in the world with a record 6 100 tons in 2006, up almost 50% from the previous year.

This is due to "corruption prevailing throughout the country", where a third of the economy is dependent on the opium trade, the report said.

"Unless Afghanistan takes swift measures to address the problem of corruption, government efforts in drug control will be undermined, further hindering political progress, economic growth and social development in the country," the INCB said.

Heroin consumption has dropped in western and central Europe but is on the rise in eastern Europe and the former Soviet bloc, the report added.

Cannabis, abuse of prescription drugs

In most countries, the most common illicit drug is cannabis, especially in Europe.

The INCB also warned about the growing abuse of prescription drugs, whether delivered legally or illegally, and the increasing consumption of synthetic drugs, mostly in North America, Europe and Asia.

Methamphetamine, "the drug of choice" in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and Thailand, is the "fastest-growing drug threat" in the US and is gaining popularity in places like China and Malaysia.

In Europe, ecstasy is much more common and is only second to cannabis in terms of consumption on the continent.

"Eventual success in tackling the world drug problem depends not only on appropriate legislation that is effectively implemented, but also on well-designed demand reduction programmes," INCB president Philip Emafo said.

- AFP