World drug problem is being contained, says UN

OPIUM poppy cultivation was down 22% worldwide in 2005, a UN report found yesterday, as part of a generally favourable, albeit inconclusive, trend in efforts to contain illicit drug use.

The UN Office on Drug and Crime attributed the decline in opium poppy cultivation to cutbacks in the world’s three main illicit opium producers: Afghanistan, Burma and Laos. Opium is the main ingredient for heroin.

“In Afghanistan, in 2005, opium poppy cultivation decreased for the first time since 2001,” the report said.