Pubdate: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 Source: Times, The (UK) Copyright: 2000 Times Newspapers Ltd Contact: PO Box 496, London E1 9XN, United Kingdom Fax: +44-(0)171-782 5046 Website: http://www.the-times.co.uk/ Author: Richard Beeston, Diplomatic Editor CANNABIS DEALERS TRADE ON INTERNET DRUG-DEALERS who produce homegrown cannabis and trade over the Internet have emerged alongside Colombian drug barons and Afghan warlords as players in the international drugs market. According to the annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board, the United Nations drugs watchdog, a new and dangerous trend of very potent homegrown cannabis is being pushed in Western Europe and finding its way into schools. The report called on Britain and The Netherlands to take action against the spread of websites "offering to sell and deliver quickly, to almost any destination in the world, potent varieties of cannabis". It said that increasing tolerance towards cannabis was misplaced because the homegrown drug was often far stronger than the imported variety. In Britain, 25 per cent of 13-year-olds surveyed admitted that they had taken illegal substances, usually cannabis. Similarly in France, one third of secondary school pupils had experimented with the drug, as well as 69 per cent of juveniles attending "techno" parties in Germany. The report will make depressing reading for governments all over the world trying to fight the spread of hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine. Hamid Ghodse, a member of the board, said that the global drugs market had an estimated annual turnover of at least UKP250 billion and singled out Afghanistan as a country whose economy was almost entirely dependent on profits from drugs. Most countries are bound by international treaty to combat the drugs trade, but 75 per cent of heroin is produced in areas of Afghanistan controlled by Taleban, the militant Islamic movement. Persuading Taleban to stop its production, estimated at a record 4,600 tons last year, is almost impossible since the movement is recognised only by three foreign governments and depends heavily on the sale of heroin to finance its civil war against the country's former Government. "The commitment of the Taleban in Afghanistan to ban opium poppy cultivation and heroin manufacture remains questionable," the report said. The battle against cocaine is having little more success. Although the International Narcotics Control Board reported successes in halting illegal coca crops in Bolivia and Peru, output has increased in Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer. According to the latest statistics, cultivation of coca in Colombia has risen by up to 30 per cent, with much of the production in rebel areas outside government control. The US Congress is considering a UKP1 billion package to accelerate its coca crop-spraying operation as well as supplying 30 more helicopter gunships, used to protect crop-spraying planes from ground fire. Colombia's dominance as a drugs centre has had a destabilising effect on the region, where countries are being used to launder money or as conduits for export markets in North America and Europe. "Haiti has emerged as the main transit point for smuggling cocaine from Colombia through the Caribbean corridor and into the United States," the report said. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg