Afghanistan's opium poppies fuel drug abuse and spread of AIDS
(Agence France-Presse - March 3, 2004, Emsie Ferreira )

VIENNA, March 3 (AFP) - Afghanistan's cultivation of opium
poppies continues to rise, fuelling not only heroin abuse but
also the rapid spread of AIDS and HIV, the UN agency on drugs
said in its annual report released Wednesday.

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said it had
noted increased levels of heroin abuse in South Africa, China and
former Soviet countries which all had high HIV infection rates.

The agency expressed "particular concern" for increased
intravenous drug use around the South African cities of
Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town.

"Heroin is being smuggled into South Africa, where its abuse has
increased, particularly among the youth," its report said. "That
trend is worrisome as the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate is very high
in South Africa."

South Africa has the world's highest number of HIV-infected cases
-- 5.3 million people, according to UN figures for 2002. HIV is
the virus that causes AIDS.

Afghanistan increased its production in 2003 to an estimated
3,600 tonnes of opium, up from 3,400 tonnes the previous year,
when it reclaimed its position as the world's biggest producer of
the drug after the fall of the Taliban.

The report said poppies were now being grown over 80,000 hectares
(200,000 acres) of land in 28 of the country's 32 provinces --
including many new fields recently reconverted to what has become
the war-torn country's biggest source of jobs and money.

"The board noted with concern that the limited progress in
reconstruction over the past 18 months been accompanied by
various illicit activities, including drug production and
trafficking, which have become two of the main sources of income
and employment in Afghanistan," the UN agency report said.

INCB secretary Herbert Schaepe said the board was worried that
the increase in opium production in Afghanistan and its greater
availability would spawn more heroin abuse along trade routes and
in Europe.

In neighbouring Pakistan, HIV infection has gone up among
intravenous drug addicts in the past year, the report said.

Schaepe told journalists at a press briefing in Vienna that abuse
of opiate derivates, which include heroin, had "increased sharply
in the last few years, especially in the countries that formed
part of the former Soviet Union."

"This is worrying not only because of the opiate abuse itself but
because the drug is injected it is contributing to the very quick
spread of HIV in these countries."

One of the members of the board, Rainer Schmid, said heroin abuse
was dropping in Western countries where strong prevention
measures had been put in place -- such as the Netherlands -- but
it had risen sharply in states along the drugs trade routes.

"Central Asia has developed dramatically from a transit country
into a negative situation," he said.

The report said drug addiction had always been prevalent in
opium-producing countries, but that because many users had now
turned to heroin, which is injected, there was now the added risk
of HIV infection.

"The abuse of drugs, primarily heroin, by injection has been a
major factor contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS in southeast
Asian countries and in China. The number of registered addicts in
China is increasing," it said.

The INCB said the profits of the opium trade "corrupt
institutions, finance terrorism and insurgency and lead to a
destabilisation of the region."

It urged the Afghan Transitional Authority to implement a
national drug law drafted with the help of the United Nations and
called on donor nations to increase their funding to the
government to help it combat the drug trade.

Opium production has long fuelled the turmoil in Afghanistan and
reached its peak in 1999 and 2000, when output respectively
reached 4,600 and 3,300 tonnes.

In 2001 it dropped to 185 tonnes after the Taliban banned the
growing of opium poppies.

The UN estimates that the country's stockpile of heroin is so big
that it could supply the market with that alone for several
years.

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