Thursday
Apr082010
Heroin Addicts: UN Office Of Drugs And Crime Launches New Report
Thursday, April 8, 2010 at 2:34PM
In a new report launched today, the UNODC (UN Office of Drugs and Crime) once again placed Afghanistan at the top of its list as the world's worst contributor to the global drug problem. Afghanistan claims a shocking 90 percent of the world's production of opium.
New evidence indicates widespread drug abuse in Russia, Iran and Western Europe--main buyers of opium from Afghanistan. Some 30,000 Russians now die from heroin addiction each year. There are two and a half million people (mostly youth) addicted to heroin throughout Russia. The underlying reasons seem to be linked to unemployment, social frustration and general youth disenfranchisement on domestic issues.
Iran has one of the highest proportion of hard drug users in the world as cheap opium and refined heroin easily flow over from the Afghan border. Some estimates put the number of heroin users as high as three million - one in 20 of the population.
"The whole issue is a problem of shared responsibility," said Walter Kemp, Spokesperson for the UNODC in a phone interview from Vienna. "The question is how to reduce demand and at the same time improve health, justice and security. Afghanistan seizes only 4-5 percent of its drug production while it produces 90 percent of the world's opium."
UNODC's largest criminal justice reform program is in Afghanistan, where the organization strives to rebuild human and infrastructural capacity, and develop national policies in areas of justice and counter-narcotics.
In the United States, the UNODC estimates around 800,000 heroin addicts.
The report chronicles UNODC's efforts to promote drug treatment and eradicate poverty, and to combat corruption and terrorism in order to end civil society's vulnerability to drugs and crime. The UNODC is also working with governments to improve narcotics centers, reduce opium cultivation through alternative agricultural programs like wheat production, and to boost the rule of law to end impunity of drug crimes.
"One thing they (countries) all have in common is the instability drugs cause their own people," Kemp said.
Kemp added the main goal ahead is to build environments for sustainable livelihoods where drug use and abuse simply won't be a part of daily life.
For a full copy of the report go to: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/April/unodc-2010-annual-report-released.html
New evidence indicates widespread drug abuse in Russia, Iran and Western Europe--main buyers of opium from Afghanistan. Some 30,000 Russians now die from heroin addiction each year. There are two and a half million people (mostly youth) addicted to heroin throughout Russia. The underlying reasons seem to be linked to unemployment, social frustration and general youth disenfranchisement on domestic issues.
Iran has one of the highest proportion of hard drug users in the world as cheap opium and refined heroin easily flow over from the Afghan border. Some estimates put the number of heroin users as high as three million - one in 20 of the population.
"The whole issue is a problem of shared responsibility," said Walter Kemp, Spokesperson for the UNODC in a phone interview from Vienna. "The question is how to reduce demand and at the same time improve health, justice and security. Afghanistan seizes only 4-5 percent of its drug production while it produces 90 percent of the world's opium."
UNODC's largest criminal justice reform program is in Afghanistan, where the organization strives to rebuild human and infrastructural capacity, and develop national policies in areas of justice and counter-narcotics.
In the United States, the UNODC estimates around 800,000 heroin addicts.
The report chronicles UNODC's efforts to promote drug treatment and eradicate poverty, and to combat corruption and terrorism in order to end civil society's vulnerability to drugs and crime. The UNODC is also working with governments to improve narcotics centers, reduce opium cultivation through alternative agricultural programs like wheat production, and to boost the rule of law to end impunity of drug crimes.
"One thing they (countries) all have in common is the instability drugs cause their own people," Kemp said.
Kemp added the main goal ahead is to build environments for sustainable livelihoods where drug use and abuse simply won't be a part of daily life.
For a full copy of the report go to: http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2010/April/unodc-2010-annual-report-released.html
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