Pubdate: Thu, 3 Sep 2009
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/O3vnWIvC
Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Jorge Barrera And Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service
Referenced: The report "Afghanistan Opium Survey 2009" 
http://drugsense.org/url/q7bXK1uu
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Afghanistan
Bookmark: http://drugnews.org/topic/poppy
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Taliban

AFGHAN OPIUM MARKET SLOWING DOWN: REPORT

Heroin Trade; 'Narco-Cartels' Take Over From Ideologues

The lure of easy drug money is trumping political ideology as
"narco-cartels" emerge in Afghanistan's heroin trade, says a UN report.

The report warns the country's lucrative opium economy, viewed mainly
as the financial fuel for the ideologically driven anti-government
insurgency, was giving rise to "narco-cartels" in an evolution similar
to what Colombia experienced with leftist guerrilla groups such as the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and cocaine.

"The world over, drug money eventually trumps ideology and becomes as
addictive as the dope itself," Antonio Maria Costa, executive director
of the UN's office on drugs and crime, says in the report.

"After years of collusion with criminal gangs and corrupt officials,
some insurgents are now opportunistically moving up the value chain:
not just taxing supply, but getting involved in producing, processing,
stocking and exporting drugs."

The narco-cartels would add another troubling dimension to an already
unstable country, he wrote, adding, "Opium remains a major source of
income in one of the world's poorest and most unstable countries.
Farmers may grow it to stave off poverty. Criminals, insurgents and
corrupt officials surely engage in its trade in the common pursuit of
greed and power."

The Afghanistan Opium Survey 2009, written by the United Nations
Office on Drugs & Crime, reveals poppy cultivation increased in the
Canadian military's theatre of action in Afghanistan, while the rest
of the country saw a decline in poppy crops.

Opium cultivation in Kandahar, the province where the Canadian
military is based, rose by 35% to 19,811 hectares between 2008 and
2009 as 5,188 more hectares were used to grow poppies. The increased
poppy cultivation also fuelled a 52% rise in opium production, which
reached 1,159 metric tonnes in the province.

Nationwide, the report found opium "cultivation, production,
workforce, prices, revenues, exports" declined for the second year in
a row.

"The bottom is starting to fall out of the Afghan opium market," said
the report's executive summary, written by Mr. Costa.

To try to reduce poppy production, Canada is contributing $55-million
to UNODC in 2007 -11. Much of that money is being spent to help to
build the capacity of Afghanistan's special anti-narcotics police and
to interdict precursor chemicals of Afghanistan's

[sidebar]

BY THE NUMBERS

Market forces are playing a role in declining poppy cultivation and
opium production. Oversupply of the crop and lower market penetration
in Europe depressed poppy prices significantly in 2009.

800,000

Reduction in the number of people involved in poppy growing in
Afghanistan.

$3,562

Farmers' gross earnings per hectare. Down from $4,662.

$48

Wholesale price for fresh opium, per kilogram. Down from $70 a
kilo.

$64

Price of dried opium per kilo. Down from $95.

$438-million

Total farm value of opium. Down from $730-million.

$10.7-billion

Afghanistan's gross domestic product. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake