{"id":9405,"date":"2011-06-24T05:06:32","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T05:06:32","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-06-24T05:06:32","modified_gmt":"2011-06-24T05:06:32","slug":"UN-warns-of-new-Asia-drug-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asiancemagazine.com\/?p=9405","title":{"rendered":"UN warns of new Asia drug surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UN anti-narcotics agency today sounded the alarm over soaring production and consumption of heroin and new designer drugs that are again making Southeast Asia a major drugs hub<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“The international community seems to have taken its eye off the ball on drug control in Southeast Asia,”<\/strong> said Yury Fedotov, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).<\/p>\n

The agency’s World Drug Report 2011 warned that Myanmar has become a prime source of synthetic narcotic methamphetamine which it said is “sweeping” across East Asia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A record 15.8 tons of methamphetamine pills were seized in 2009<\/strong>, the latest year for available figures, up by more than one third from 2008.<\/p>\n

Most of the drugs came from or were seized in Myanmar<\/strong>, which UNODC called “one of the primary sources of methamphetamine pills in Southeast Asia.”<\/p>\n

Myanmar has also seen a surge in opium poppy production to make heroin<\/strong>, according to the agency.<\/p>\n

While Afghanistan remains the world’s top opium producer<\/strong>, a plant blight drastically cut its production in 2010 to an estimated 3,600 tons.<\/p>\n

The agency cultivation in Myanmar rose by 20 percent in 2010 and with Afghanistan’s decline<\/strong>, its share of global opium production has risen from five percent in 2007 to 12 percent last year.<\/p>\n

The world opium market is now said to be valued at more than $68 billion a year<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Fedotov said that Southeast Asia – and particularly the so-called “Golden Triangle” region where Laos, Myanmar and Thailand<\/strong> meet – was again a big concern.<\/p>\n

“The gains we have witnessed in the traditional drugs markets are being offset by a fashion for synthetic ‘designer drugs’ mimicking illegal substances,” said the agency’s chief.<\/p>\n

“The Golden Triangle is not just about opium anymore; it’s a business that caters to consumers. The international community seems to have taken its eye off the ball on drug control in Southeast Asia<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The UN said that governments and experts in Asia had reported a “significant” increase in use of amphetamine-type stimulants<\/strong> (ATS) over the past year, particularly of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

“Government experts have reported that methamphetamine ranks among the top three illicit drugs consumed in several countries in this region, including China, Japan and Indonesia<\/strong>,” said the report.<\/p>\n

UNODC said the first clandestine ATS laboratory in India was found in 2003 but more have been uncovered since<\/strong>. “Attempts at illicit ATS manufacture have also been reported from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

“India is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of precursor chemicals and Bangladesh also has a growing chemical industry,<\/strong>” warned the report.<\/p>\n

Source AFP<\/em>
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