U.N.: Afghan's $61B drug trade funding terrorism

In this Jan 24, 2011 photo, sacks of opium, motor bikes, suicide jackets and explosive materials, which were confiscated by Afghan security forces during operations in the past weeks in Kandahar south of Kabul, Afghanistan, are displayed for media.

/ AP Photo/Allauddin Khan

The World Drug Report for 2011 is grim: drug trafficking is no longer a social and criminal ill but a trade that funds organized crime, terrorism and other security threats.

The 272-page report, issued by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is chock full of frightening profiles: cartels, terror groups, corruption of government officials, and networks that evade law enforcement.

"Drug trafficking, the critical link between supply and demand, is fuelling a global criminal enterprise valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars that poses a growing challenge to stability and security," the report states, also noting that there are "more and more acts of violence, conflicts and terrorist activities fuelled by drug trafficking and organized crime."

One of those places where the drug trade has become linked with terrorism is Afghanistan, where the $61 billion annual opiate trade still thrives. The World Drug Report indicates that Afghan opium production will probably increase this year.

Afghanistan's drug trade "is funding insurgency, international terrorism and wider destabilization," Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said, as he announced an ongoing effort to incorporate anti-drug programs into the U.N.'s peacekeeping and disarmament programs.

The price of opium, for example, has increased, meaning that opium has become more of a lifeline to the Afghan economy. UNODC has focused on Herat, Farah, Nimroz, Ghor and Kandahar with the effort to contain opium cultivation and instability. "We can definitely see a record profit in this harvest", said the UNODC's country office representative in Afghanistan, Jean-Luc Lemahieu.

Sadly, in the case of Afghanistan, not much has improved overall. An earlier "Afghan Opium Survey 2009," released by UNODC two years ago concluded that the war-torn country had its very own drug cartel and that insurgents are moving up the "value chain" in the drug trafficking business - not merely taxing supply, but now working with criminal gangs and corrupt officials to produce, process, stock, and export opium.

Even two years ago, according to the UNODC, drugs in Afghanistan not only had become a major source of income for poor farmers, but was also financing suicide bombers because of a "marriage of convenience" between anti-government insurgents and criminal groups, spawning narcotics cartels in Afghanistan with direct links to the Taliban.

Corruption of government leaders accompanies the drugs: "In recent years we have seen several such cases in which ministers and heads of national law enforcement agencies have been implicated in drug-related corruption," the report states.

This year's report adds more to the global drug picture, including the profiles of regions and how they have changed. Cannabis (marijuana) is the world's drug of choice, produced in the Americas and Africa, and in South-West Asia. Afghanistan continued to produce the world's largest supply of cannabis and Afghan farmers found cannabis herb to be a far more profitable crop than opium poppy.

On an international basis, the numbers are large: "Globally, some 210 million people use illicit drugs each year, and almost 200,000 of them die from drugs," the report says.

And, no big surprise, the report says that "North America continues to be the world's largest drug market," even though it is now smaller than a decade ago, and is focused on cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and opiates.

But profiles have changed: Heroin consumption has stabilized in Europe and cocaine consumption has declined in North America, the report shows, "But these gains have been offset by several counter-trends: a large increase in cocaine use in Europe and South America over the last decade; the recent expansion of heroin use to Africa; and increased abuse of synthetic 'designer drugs' and prescription medications in some regions."

The cocaine trade has not shrunk substantially, but the patterns are different: "Just a decade ago, the North American market for cocaine was four times larger than that of Europe, but now we are witnessing a complete rebalancing. Today the estimated value of the European cocaine market ($33 billion) is almost equivalent to that of the North American market ($37 billion)."

If there is a positive note to the report: A comprehensive and integrated approach can also help us to confront the global threat from drugs more effectively.

The report recommends an international coalition of the anti-drug-willing, where nations share intelligence for enforcement, combine forces for eradication, and attempt to deal with the bigger picture of both supply and demand.

[berlinfoto-2009]

"Globally, some 210 million people use illicit drugs each year, and almost 200,000 of them die from drugs,"
I would have to say that the number of users would in reality be much higher, and the deaths, that are attributed to illicit drugs, probably are caused by impurities and actual poison, that drugs are cut with to make the drugs go further and to increase profits.
The deaths are preventable through legalization. Drugs are so widely available that Legalization probably would not cause an increase in the number of users. And for the most part these drugs are in reality harmless.

[berlinfoto-2009]

Why is legalism so hard for people to swallow, everyone who wants to punish users and suppliers is delusional. But I do not think that the policy makers are delusional, I believe they know exactly what they are doing, and that there are no unintended consequences, they wish to enslave us all.
The war on drugs, and now the war on terrorism, are just excuses to do away with the Bill of Rights.
If Americans want to live in a free nation then they must legalize all illegal drugs, and quit provoking terrorists.

[knowa2]

As Hilary Clinton once slip on legalization issue there is simply to much money in it to make it legal. Just think what we could of done for the world. Just in the US it is estimated just Government spending is between one and 2.5 Trillion Dollars that just the US Govt. plus much more. My question where did all this money go who received it. Follow the money

[ddaryl]

black market gives them opportunity

but that's the way America wants it, what better way to keep the war machine rolling, and allows the CIA?DEA to operate.

heck even the ATF allowed guns to go to Mexico under the guise they were tracking them, but lost track....

[skepticalJM]

So, what has ten years of war proved?
Any one with sense would have attacked the terrorists by cutting off their financial sources, i.e.: the drug trade. WITHOUT MONEY THEY ARE NEUTRALIZED. This NO-BRAINER seems to be the only thing our government FORGOT! Oh yeah, that and to SECURE our Southern border to protect our country from enemy agents, they also forgot that too!
So instead our government attacks and occupies two countries, but forgets all the essentials I described above.
Now tell me the purpose for our wars... NATIONAL SECURITY!
This is our politicians idea of SECURITY; I think a good German Shepard dog could have supplied better security, without bankrupting our country!
This is what party ideology has given the United States; this is what happens when our taxes go into the hands of phonies and outright liars and thieves. Tell me again, WHY DID WE FIGHT THESE WARS...?

[skepticalJM]

So, what has ten years of war proved?
Any one with sense would have attacked the terrorists by cutting off their financial sources, i.e.: the drug trade. WITHOUT MONEY THEY ARE NEUTRALIZED. This NO-BRAINER seems to be the only thing our government FORGOT! Oh yeah, that and to SECURE our Southern border to protect our country from enemy agents, they also forgot that too!
So instead our government attacks and occupies two countries, but forgets all the essentials I described above.
Now tell me the purpose for our wars... NATIONAL SECURITY!
This is our politicians idea of SECURITY; I think a good German Shepard dog could have supplied better security, without bankrupting our country!
This is what party ideology has given the United States; this is what happens when our taxes go into the hands of phonies and outright liars and thieves. Tell me again, WHY DID WE FIGHT THESE WARS...?

[skepticalJM]

So, what has ten years of war proved?
Any one with sense would have attacked the terrorists by cutting off their financial sources, i.e.: the drug trade. WITHOUT MONEY THEY ARE NEUTRALIZED. This NO-BRAINER seems to be the only thing our government FORGOT! Oh yeah, that and to SECURE our Southern border to protect our country from enemy agents, they also forgot that too!
So instead our government attacks and occupies two countries, but forgets all the essentials I described above.
Now tell me the purpose for our wars... NATIONAL SECURITY!
This is our politicians idea of SECURITY; I think a good German Shepard dog could have supplied better security, without bankrupting our country!
This is what party ideology has given the United States; this is what happens when our taxes go into the hands of phonies and outright liars and thieves. Tell me again, WHY DID WE FIGHT THESE WARS...?

[aftinc]

Take the crime out and the criminals will not have a product. I know this sounds crazy but we'll never be able to control it, and as we can clearly see in Mexico, continuing with current policy/laws is not working. All they do is provide money to the criminals worldwide. A poster here web6242a had a good one Get Legitimate pharmaceutical companies to broker with the Afghan Govt.

[BCSaugerties]

Is anyone is shocked or surprised that 61 Billion trumps ideology. Everyone talks cabbage is what Grandpa used to say.

[guyfrompa46]

One big bomb should do it

[web6242a]

The Solution ---- Get Legitimate pharmaceutical companies to broker with the Afghan Govt. and purchase the crops for legitimate pain medication. There is currently a worldwide shortage of necessary opiates for manufacturing. Destroying the crops of dirt poor farmers just turns them in hate against us.Its time to think outside of the box.