Pubdate: Sat, 26 Oct 2002
Source: Independent  (UK)
Copyright: 2002 Independent Newspapers (UK) Ltd.
Contact:  http://www.independent.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/209
Author: Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

TRADE IN HEROIN WILL EARN FARMERS UKP130M

Heroin sold in Britain and the rest of Europe is likely to generate a
UKP130m windfall for Afghan farmers this year following a bumper opium
harvest and a jump in the drug's wholesale price.

Profits should amount to UKP2,000 per farmer, according to a United Nations
report published yesterday. Afghanistan supplies 75 per cent of the world's
heroin and 90 per cent of the British market.

Opium production in Afghanistan has risen twentyfold to about 3,400 tons
this year, fuelled by instability since the 11 September terrorist attacks,
the study says. The country has quickly re-established itself as the world's
biggest opium producer after the fall of the Taliban regime, which banned
cultivation.

The report estimates that the illicit international trade in Afghan opiates
is worth UKP16bn. The growers only get a small proportion of the profit, but
the price of raw opium has risen from UKP20 per kilo to about UKP230,
encouraging Afghans to return to poppy cultivation.

Published by the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, the report
says prices for opium rose tenfold when the Taliban outlawed the crop and
have been maintained at a high level. The report says: "The absence of the
usual harvest in Afghanistan in spring 2001 and the subsequent depletion of
stocks pushed opium prices to unprecedented levels, creating a powerful
incentive for farmers to plant the 2002 crop.

"The power vacuum in Kabul caused by the aftermath of 11 September enabled
farmers to replant opium poppy."

Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN organisation, said
prospects for this year's planting -- next year's crop -- were still
uncertain. "Farmers are not sure they will go unpunished as they did last
year," he said.
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