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STORY: AFGHANISTAN / DRUGS
TRT: 2.27
SOURCE: UNAMA
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 12, 13 NOVEMBER 2013, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
13 NOVEMBER 2013, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
1. Pan right, press conference
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Regional Representative in Afghanistan:
“The opium problematics in Afghanistan are as a virus festering within the body, which is showing a very low immunity resistance on governance.”
3. Tit up, reporter taking notes
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Regional Representative in Afghanistan:
“Of the 68 billion US dollars profits made globally on the Afghan opiates, less than 10 percent remains in Afghanistan. 90 percent is made across the borders. Hence, we do have a shared responsibility. At this moment of transition, we need to make sure that the international and regional communities are helping Afghanistan to make a big choice today; is this country going to go on the direction of an illicit economy, or is this country going to be underpinned by the licit economy as you all wish it would be?”
12 NOVEMBER 2013, DEH SAHA DISTRICT, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
5. Various shots, confiscated opium ready to be set on fire
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Regional Representative in Afghanistan:
“The addiction rates are still going up, far beyond one million, and for the third consecutive year in a row, we witness an increase in the opium cultivation. Those elements are very worrying.”
7. Various shots, opium oozing from bags
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Jean Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Regional Representative in Afghanistan:
“It is indeed correct and undoubtable that the Ministry of Counter-narcotics has played an increasing role with regard to the policy setting. That the counter-narcotics police of Afghanistan has increased its seizure rates dramatically over recent years, that the criminal justice task force has been far more successful than ever in prosecuting, arresting, and showing the courage to keep people within the prisons.”
9. Various shots, opium being burned
Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan rose to record levels this year with a 36 percent increase compared to last year, according to a new survey launched today (13 November) by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the Afghan Government.
The area under poppy cultivation rose to 209,000 hectares, up from the previous year’s total of 154,000 hectares and higher than the peak of 193,000 hectares reached in 2007, according to the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2013.
At a news conference in the Afghan capital of Kabul for the release of the report, Jean Luc Lemahieu, UNODC Regional Representative in Afghanistan said “the opium problematics in Afghanistan are as a virus festering within the body, which is showing a very low immunity resistance on governance.”
The report found that opium production reached around 5,500 tons, up by almost a half from 2012 but lower than the record high of 7,400 tons in 2007.
The report noted that although lower than in 2012, opium prices continued to lure farmers at around $145 per kilogram, a price much higher than the prices fetched during the high yield years of 2006-2008.
Lemahieu said that “of the 68 billion US dollars profits made globally on the Afghan opiates, less than 10 percent remains in Afghanistan” and “hence, we do have a shared responsibility.”
He said “we need to make sure that the international and regional communities are helping Afghanistan to make a big choice today; is this country going to go on the direction of an illicit economy, or is this country going to be underpinned by the licit economy as you all wish it would be?”
The report’s launch comes a day after Afghan authorities destroyed more than 20 tons of illicit narcotics, precursor materials and alcohol, as part of government efforts to fight the trade in illicit drugs and other items.
At the site where the drugs were destroyed, Lemahieu noted that addiction rates in Afghanistan “are still going up, far beyond one million, and for the third consecutive year in a row, we witness an increase in the opium cultivation. Those elements are very worrying.”
Nevertheless, he noted that “It is indeed correct and undoubtable that the Ministry of Counter-narcotics has played an increasing role with regard to the policy setting. That the counter-narcotics police of Afghanistan has increased its seizure rates dramatically over recent years, that the criminal justice task force has been far more successful than ever in prosecuting, arresting, and showing the courage to keep people within the prisons.”
The drugs, seized by Afghan authorities in raids in Kabul and its outskirts over the past ten months, were destroyed in a bonfire in the presence of senior government officials, representatives of the international community and the media.
The items burned included more than 1,700 kilograms of opium, almost 460 kilograms of heroin, close to 1,180 kilograms of morphine, 3.4 kilograms of crystal meth, more than 1,085 kilograms of hashish, 50 kilograms of acid, almost 87 kilograms of precursor materials for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, and more than 10,700 litres of alcohol.
