NYT/Reuters: U.N. Warns Surging Afghan Opium Crop to Spur Heroin Deaths

[DeepModem Mom]

U.N. Warns Afghan Opium Crop to Spur Heroin Deaths
By REUTERS
Published: October 5, 2006

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations warned nearly 90 countries including the United States and most of Europe on Thursday to prepare for more deaths from heroin overdoses because of surging opium production in Afghanistan.

The 2006 Afghan Opium Survey, published by the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, found production of the raw material for heroin hit a record 6,100 tonnes, almost 50 percent higher than last year. This accounted for more than 90 percent of the world's supply.

"The abundant supply of Afghan heroin is likely to result in dramatic increases in the purity of street heroin,'' the executive director of the Vienna-based agency, Antonio Maria Costa, said in a statement.

"This, in turn, is likely to prompt a substantial increase in the number of deaths by overdose as addicts are not used to injecting doses containing such high concentrations of the drug,'' he said.

Costa said he had written to nearly 90 health ministers from countries which had a problem with heroin to warn them....

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-drugs-afghan-un.html

[brentspeak]

1. How does this heroin manage to find its way from Afghanistan

to the rest of the world? Is there an Afghan version of the Colombian drug cartel?

[noshenanigans]

4. Are there instances like in Vietnam?

I know during the Vietnam war some people were managing to send back opium and heroin (servicepeople in a lot of cases, in bodybags in some), that's what I read was to blame for the massive increase in heroin purity and usage in the early 70s. Could it be the same sort of thing?

[mom cat]

5. Yes. It is called the CIA!

[Warpy]

6. There are drug cartels worldwide

Most of the smack here in NM is black tar from the Golden Triangle in Asia with a little coming from Mexico, itself. Nearly all comes up from Mexico rather than being shipped in from the ports on the west coast.

There are a couple of small towns here with huge black tar problems.

The only reason the bumper crop in Afghanistan will kill people is that the drug is likely to be hotter than usual, cut with a lot less garbage by the time it gets to the user. There is no quality control and there are likely to be a lot of ODs.

[Nihil]

7. Hey it's their biggest export ...

... don't want to start messing with "free trade" do you?

Especially as the protection racket for Afghanistan is provided
by the US taxpayer (although they might not see it as a line item
in a budget anywhere).

[shain from kane]

2. "We'll fight the drug cartels there, so we don't have to fight them here."

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. "a record 6,100 tonnes, almost 50 percent higher than last year"

This is what bush means by "good progress".