Drug Production And Trafficking
International Scenario

The main elements of the problem of illicit drugs are cultivation and production, trafficking and consumption of the same. The major drugs of abuse are cannabis (herb and resin), opium, heroin, cocaine and synthetic drugs, which may also include abuse of pharmaceutical preparations.

Opium

Illicit opium cultivation is concentrated in Afghanistan, which produced almost 6,100 MT of opium in the year 2006, representing 92% of the world's illicit opium production. Other countries where illicit opium cultivation takes place are Myanmar and Lao People's Democratic Republic. The area under cultivation and opium produced during the year 2006 were:-

Over the years, opium cultivation has decreased in the South East Asian countries. Since 1998, opium cultivation in Laos and Myanmar has been reduced by 78%.

A comparative picture of the area under cultivation (in hectares) in different countries is shown below:-

Some other countries where illicit opium poppy is cultivated are Columbia, Mexico and Peru.

Three major trafficking groups for opiates (heroin, morphine and opium) are:

I.    Afghanistan to neighbouring countries, Middle East and Europe.

2.    Myanmar and Lao PDR to neighbouring countries in South East Asia and to Australia.

3.    Mexico, Columbia and Peru to USA.

During 2005, the total world seizures of opium aggregated to 342 MT, of which almost 96% were seized in the Near and Middle East/South West Asia, I% in Central Asia and Transcaucasian countries and I% in East and South East Asia.

The seizures of opium during the year 2005 were as under:-

The worldwide seizures of heroin and morphine in 2005 amounted to 91 MT, of which almost 51% were seized in the Near and Middle East/South West Asia, 11% in South East Europe, 12% in East and South East Asia and 9% in West and Central Europe.

Pakistan reported seizures of 24,341 kg of heroin and morphine, which constituted 27% of the world's total seizures. Iran seized 12,493 kg while China, Afghanistan and Turkey seized 9,085, 9,079, 8,723 kg, respectively.

There are 15.6 million opiate abusers in the world of which almost 54% are in Asia, 25% in Europe, 14% in Americas, 6% in Africa and I% in Oceania. Heroin is the most abused drug of all the opiates. Almost eleven million people in the world abuse heroin.

Cannabis

Cannabis is the most widely spread narcotic drug bearing plant and it is the most abused drug in three different forms - cannabis herb, cannabis resin and cannabis oil. The cannabis plant grows wild and is also cultivated almost throughout the world. There were an estimated 160 million cannabis users in 2005.

Almost 31% of these were in Asia, 24% in Africa, 23% in Americas, 19% in Europe and 2% in Oceania.

As per the UNODC estimates, cannabis herb is cultivated in some 172 countries of the world. The global production of cannabis during the year 2005 was estimated to be 42000 MT. The cannabis was produced across all continents — in Africa (26%), Asia (22%). North America (23%), Central/South America/Carribbean (23%).

During the year 2005, 4644 MT of cannabis herb were seized worldwide. Mexico reported seizures of 1781 MT (38%), USA 1112 MT (24%), South Africa 292 MT (6%), Brazil 152 (3%). In India, seizures of cannabis in 2005 aggregated to 144 MT.

Morocco is the world's largest cannabis producer, followed by Pakistan and Afghanistan. Major sources of cannabis resin are Albania, the Netherlands, Jamaica, Paraguay and Nepal. West and central Europe are the largest market for cannabis resin. In the year 2005, more than 70% of the global cannabis resin seizures were in this part of the world.

In 2005, worldwide seizures of cannabis resin were 1,302 MT. Spain seized 670 MT (51%) of the world's total cannabis resin, followed by Pakistan - 93 MT (7%), France - 83 MT (6%), Morocco - 92 MT (7%), Iran - 69 MT (5%) and UK - 65 MT (5%). The enforcement agencies in India seized a total of 4.6 MT of cannabis resin in the same year.