~snip from below article ~ "The Russian authorities have repeatedly voiced alarm at the growth in drug trafficking from Afghanistan, blaming current US policies in the country which focus on netting traffickers rather than producers"
Russia Urges Global Struggle Against Afghan Heroin
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev says the international community must accept responsibility for the fight against illicit drugs from Afghanistan. He told an anti-drug conference in Moscow that worldwide Afghan heroine has killed nearly one-million people under the age of 35 in the past eight years.
Speaking at an international anti-drug forum in Moscow, President Medvedev issued a call for a common global fight against narcotics, saying the entire world is threatened by drug-producing countries, especially those that make hard drugs - narcotics that are more addictive and damaging.
He said Afghanistan does not have the resources for a breakthrough in the fight. He said ongoing efforts by various international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, are not enough.
Mr. Medvedev says those well-regarded organizations have not yet brought about the desired result. He adds that responsibility for a single Afghan drug policy should be assumed by the global community.
Mr. Medvedev said standing up to the evil of narcotics on a global scale requires a struggle not only against drug trafficking, but also the social problems created by that evil.
The Kremlin leader says those problems obviously include poverty, inequality, and corruption. He adds wherever poor economic development combines with weak government institutions, a phenomenon emerges that many experts refer to as a narco-state.
Mr. Medvedev told the forum that nearly one-million people under the age of 35 have died around the world in the past eight years from Afghan heroin. Russia's federal drug control agency says the country loses about 30,000 people to heroine abuse each year.
The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says heroine is the world's deadliest drug. The U.N. agency says the narcotic has created a market worth $65-billion and caters to 15 million addicts. The organization notes heroine use is behind the unprecedented spread of HIV, and also funds criminal groups, insurgents and terrorists.
The United Nations says Afghanistan cultivates 92 percent of the world's opium poppies, the raw material for heroin, and exports about 375 tons of the drug each year.
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June 10, 2010
International Forum Against Afghan Drugs Opens in Moscow
Afghan Heroin Took Million Lives Last Decade: Russia
MOSCOW — Heroin trafficked from war-torn Afghanistan has killed more than a million people worldwide in the past decade, the head of Russia's federal narcotics control agency said on Monday.
"In the first 10 years of this millenium, more than a million people have died because of Afghan narcotics," Russian news agencies quoted Viktor Ivanov as saying. "More than 16 million have been affected, physically and mentally."
Moscow says 30,000 Russians died last year from using Afghan heroin.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly voiced alarm at the growth in drug trafficking from Afghanistan, blaming current US policies in the country which focus on netting traffickers rather than producers.
US President Barack Obama made a major policy shift in Afghanistan by ending a military drive to destroy poppies, believing it alienated the poorest populations who grew the crops to make money.
Obama's administration has largely avoided crop eradication in favour of seeking to convince farmers to abandon poppies in favour of other crops.
War-ravaged Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of heroin. In 2009 the potential gross export value of opium from the country was 2.8 billion dollars, according to the UN drugs agency.
International Forum Against Afghan Drugs Opens in Moscow
Afghan Heroin Took Million Lives Last Decade: Russia
MOSCOW — Heroin trafficked from war-torn Afghanistan has killed more than a million people worldwide in the past decade, the head of Russia's federal narcotics control agency said on Monday.
"In the first 10 years of this millenium, more than a million people have died because of Afghan narcotics," Russian news agencies quoted Viktor Ivanov as saying. "More than 16 million have been affected, physically and mentally."
Moscow says 30,000 Russians died last year from using Afghan heroin.
The Russian authorities have repeatedly voiced alarm at the growth in drug trafficking from Afghanistan, blaming current US policies in the country which focus on netting traffickers rather than producers.
US President Barack Obama made a major policy shift in Afghanistan by ending a military drive to destroy poppies, believing it alienated the poorest populations who grew the crops to make money.
Obama's administration has largely avoided crop eradication in favour of seeking to convince farmers to abandon poppies in favour of other crops.
War-ravaged Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of heroin. In 2009 the potential gross export value of opium from the country was 2.8 billion dollars, according to the UN drugs agency.
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