KSA AMPHETAMINE SEIZURES RISE SHARPLY

SEIZURES of amphetamines have risen sharply in Saudi Arabia, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported.

Saudi Arabia accounted for 28 percent of all global amphetamine seizures in 2006, the latest year for which data are available, according to the UNODC’s Annual Report - World Drug Report 2008, released Thursday.

Seizures in the Kingdom began to rise sharply in 2004 and reached 12.3 tons in 2006. “This is equivalent to the sum of all UK seizures – the biggest amphetamine market in Europe – from 2000 to 2006,” the report said.

The World Drug Report 2008, the UNODC flagship publication, was launched in New York by Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa.

The report said amphetamine tablets for the Near and Middle East have typically been sourced from clandestine laboratories in Bulgaria and Turkeyand trafficked and marketed as Captagon to these countries.

“Saudi Arabia is the largest such market in the region,” the report said. “Captagon typically transits over land through Turkey, Syria, and Jordan before arriving in Saudi Arabia.”

Additionally, Oman reported seizing more than two tons of non-specified amphetamines (i.e., Captagon) destined for Saudi Arabia – the second most significant seizure of amphetamines in this region.

“The trafficking of large volumes of methamphetamines through the region to an as yet undetermined market is cause for concern,” the report said.

“Saudi Arabia also reported large methamphetamine seizures (216 kg). This is unprecedented for the region and could signal the development of new routes and destinations for this drug,” the report said.

Up to 60 nations, mostly in Asia and the Arab world – including Saudi Arabia – have capital punishment for drug offenses. Drug control has undoubtedly helped stabilize the world drug situation. However, report shows that the recent stabilization in the world drugs market is under threat because a surge in opium and coca cultivation and the risk of higher drug use in developing countries threaten to undermine recent progress in drug control.

It shows that less than one in every 20 people aged 15-64 have tried drugs at least once in the past 12 months. Problem drug users (people with severe drug dependence) are less than one- tenth of this already low percentage: 26 million people, or 0.6% of the planet’s adult population.

Afghanistan had a record opium harvest in 2007: as a consequence, the world’s illegal opium production almost doubled since 2005. UN experts say 80 percent of the poppy was grown in five southern provinces where Taleban fighters profit from drugs.. Most cultivation (80 percent) took place in five southern provinces, which are the most unstable. This is twice as much supply than demand but it is not clear where it is going.

A “heroin tsunami” is reportedly starting to wash up on shores of Europe, which is seeing a fall in heroin prices on the street. Following are other figures and observations on global illicit drug production and use, from the report:

World drug use
There were an estimated 165.5 million users of cannabis products (4 percent of the world’s population between the ages of 15 and 64), compared with 24.7 million users of amphetamines, 16 million users of cocaine, 12 million users of heroin and 9 million users of the psychedelic methamphetamine drug known as ecstasy.

Approximately 208 million people or 4.9 percent of people aged 15 to 64 have used drugs at least once in the last 12 months.

Opium/heroin market trends
In 2007, the opium/heroin market continued to expand due to cultivation increases in Afghanistan, which pushed up the area under opium poppy cultivation worldwide by 17 percent. However, cultivation increased by 22 percent in Southeast Asia, driven by a 29-percent rise in Myanmar. This was Southeast Asia’s first increase in six years.

Afghanistan produced 92 percent of the world’s opium last year. Myanmar was the No. 2 producer.

Coca cultivation
In 2007, the total area under coca cultivation in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru increased 16 percent to 181,600 hectares (448,700 acres). This jump was driven mainly by a 27-percent increase in Colombia.

Despite these recent increases, the global area under coca cultivation continues to be lower than in the 1990s and 18 percent below the level recorded in 2000, 221,300 hectares (546,800 acres). Colombia continued to grow most of the coca.

Global cocaine production has remained stable over the last few years, reaching 994 metric tonnes in 2007, almost the same as in 2006 (984 metric tonnes). The majority of this amount -- 600 tonnes in 2007 -- came from Colombia.

Cocaine use has fallen in North America but is rising in Europe.

Cannabis
Cannabis, mostly in the form of marijuana and hashish, continues to dominate the world’s illicit drug markets in terms of pervasiveness of cultivation, volume of production and number of consumers. Global cannabis leaf production is estimated to have stabilized at around 41,400 metric tonnes in 2006. There was a 27-percent decline in global cannabis seizures between 2004 and 2006.

Most was produced in North America in 2006 (55 percent). The consumer market for cannabis products dwarfs those for the other drug groups.

Saudi Gazette