Global supply of cocaine unchanged, UN report finds

THE global supply of cocaine remains unchanged despite massive eradication programmes, a UN report has found.

The report also found the production of heroin continues to spiral at “an alarming rate” in Afghanistan, despite increased crop eradication.

The report said the huge rise in the supply of cocaine into Europe was being driven by the creation of a supply route from Latin America through west Africa. The International Narcotics Control Board 2007 annual report said increasing amounts of herbal cannabis were also being seized in Europe, particularly in Ireland and Britain.

The INCB, which monitors UN laws on drugs, said criminal organisations were also exploiting loopholes in Africa to trade chemicals used in the manufacture of illegal drugs.

The board also warned:

Pharmaceutical drugs sold over the internet posed an “escalating problem” and were a serious risk to human health.

Trafficking gangs were using legitimate courier companies to collect and deliver shipments to avoid detection and keep costs low.

Public perceptions of drugs could be “profoundly affected” if celebrity drug users were treated more leniently by the criminal justice system.

The report said there had been a “rapid increase” in cocaine smuggling from Latin America through west and central Africa into Europe.

It found the “positive developments” in the eradication of illicit coca cultivation in South America were being “offset” by improved cultivation, new plant varieties and increased efficiency in laboratories.

The board’s report also found “an extraordinary” 8,200 tonnes of opium was produced in 2007, a 34% rise on 2006.