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UN / WORLD DRUG REPORT ADVANCER
STORY: UN / DRUG REPORT ADVANCER
TRT: 2.34
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF / UNAMA / UNMIL / OFFICE OF NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD THAILAND (ONCB) / UNODC
RESTRICTIONS: PRESS RELEASE EMBARGO UNTIL 14:00 GMT ON 24 JUNE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 23 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE - UNAMA – APRIL-MAY 2008, BADAKHSHAN, AFGHANISTAN
1. Various shots, farmers in poppy field
FILE – UNODC – DATE UNKNOWN, NETHERLANDS
2. Close up, cannabis
FILE – UNTV, 17-29 NOVEMBER 2008, AGUAYTIA, PERU
3. Various shots, coca plantations
FILE – UNODC – DATE UNKNOWN, AFGHANISTAN
4. Close up, putting opium on an envelope
23 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:
“The World Drug Report this year shows that once again –this has been going on since three or four years- there has been instability or even decline in production, trafficking and consumption of the major drugs; cocaine, heroin and cannabis. The news regarding amphetamines is less positive. It looks like the market is thriving especially in the Far East, especially in South East Asia, but that of course is one important element of the bigger picture which we have to address in the near future.”
FILE – UNICEF - 6-13 FEBRUARY 2009, MALDIVES
7. Various shots, people standing outside a drug rehabilitation center
8. Various shots, drug addict taking Methedrine dose
FILE – UNODC – DATE UNKNOWN, NETHERLANDS
9. Med shot, man smoking cannabis
23 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:
“Regarding consumption, well the United Nations General Assembly launched ten years ago, eleven years ago a plan of action, a special session and member states have taken the matter at heart and we see now rates of drug addiction for cocaine and cannabis, and heroin flat in North America, in Western Europe, in the rich countries. My fear is about developing countries.”
FILE - OFFICE OF NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD THAILAND (ONCB), DATE UNKNOWN
11. Various shots, confiscated amphetamines exhibition at police station
23 JUNE 2009, NEW YORK CITY
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:
“Drugs are illegal because they are dangerous, not dangerous because they are illegal. The arguments of legalization of drugs based on the strength of organized crime, therefore the importance of reducing organized crime by subtracting their revenue is faulty, in the sense that it may reduce to some extent organized crime, legalization of drugs. But why do we want to make drugs available, they are dangerous, it would create a pandemic which we inevitably would create a public health problem and additional costs enormously higher costs to deal with the pandemic. Our countries do not need to choose between public health problems and a public security problem. I think we should be able to deal with them at the same time.”
FILE - UNAMA – APRIL-MAY 2008, BADAKHSHAN, AFGHANISTAN
16. Various shots, poppy destruction
FILE – UNMIL - OCTOBER 6, 2008, GBARNGA, LIBERIA
17. Close up, blaze of fire on plants
18. Med shot, blaze of fire on plants
The World Drug Report 2009, to be launched on 24 June 2009 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), shows that global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or in decline, while production and use of synthetic drugs is feared to be increasing in the developing world.
The 314-page report, prepared for World Drug Day on 26th June, will be launched in Washington DC by UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa, and the newly appointed Director of the US Office of National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske.
Opium cultivation in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world’s opium is grown, declined by 19 percent in 2008. Colombia, which produces half of the world’s cocaine, saw an 18 percent decline in cultivation and a staggering 28 percent decline in production compared to 2007. Global coca production, at 845 tons, is at a five year low, despite some increases in cultivation in Peru and Bolivia.
Cannabis remains the most widely cultivated and used drug around the world, although estimates are less precise. Data also show that it is more harmful than commonly believed.
In terms of consumption, the world’s biggest markets for cannabis (North America, Oceania, and Western Europe), cocaine (North America and some parts of Western Europe) and opiates (South East Asia and Western Europe) are all flat or down. Data is less clear for developing countries.
News on synthetic drugs – amphetamines, methamphetamine and ecstasy – is mixed. Use has leveled off in developed countries. In the developing world, there is concern that production and consumption may be growing, although the data is limited.
What was once a cottage industry has become big business. Industrial-sized laboratories in South East Asia – particularly in the Greater Mekong Sub-region – are producing massive quantities of methamphetamine tablets, and crystal meth and other substances like Ketamine.
Some countries in the European Union are the main suppliers of ecstasy; Canada has become a major trafficking hub for meth and ecstasy.
The report pays special attention to the impact of drug-related crime, and what to do about it.
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