Fears cheap heroin will spark epidemic

BUMPER opium crops in Afghanistan will result in a glut of cheap heroin and could trigger another epidemic in Ireland, drug experts warned yesterday.

The comments follow a United Nations report which showed that cultivation of opium used to manufacture heroin jumped by 64% in 2004.

"Virtually all our heroin comes from Afghanistan. As it is, there seems to be plenty of heroin around. With this huge increase in opium crops there will be more heroin in Ireland, and cheaper heroin," said one garda source.