Pubdate: Wed, 24 Jan 2001 Source: Otago Daily Times (New Zealand) Copyright: Allied Press Limited, 2001 Contact: P.O. Box 181, 52-66 Lower Stuart Street, Dunedin, New Zealand Website: http://www2.odt.co.nz Author: Associated Press COCAINE, HEROIN USE FALLS BUT AMPHETAMINES UP VIENNA Cocaine and heroin abuse is diminishing worldwide but consumption of amphetamines is growing, the United Nations says. A report published by the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention said the increase in amphetamine use was mainly in Europe and Asia, with developed countries the main suppliers. In the United States, drug use fell 40% from 1985 to 1999, with cocaine use falling 70%. Officials with the drug agency said much of the reduction was a result of increased government spending on prevention and treatment. The amount climbed from $US855 million ($NZ1.929 billion) in 1985 to $US5.6 billion in 1999, the equivalent of $US20 a person. Across the globe, an estimated 180 million people were consuming drugs in the late 1990s - more than 4% of all people aged 15 and above. At least 134 countries and territories were faced with a drug abuse problem. Not only was cocaine and heroin abuse declining but the area where poppy was grown for opium - the source of heroin - was at its smallest since 1988, the report said. Afghanistan was the provider of more than 75% of the world's opium. Drug control officials praised neighbouring Pakistan for its success in ending poppy production. "Pakistan is this year's big success story," Bernard Frahi, regional director of the UN Drug Control Programme, told reporters in the capital, Islamabad. Pakistan produced 800 tons of opium in 1979 but only a negligible amount in 2000, he said. Among other positive developments noted in the report: Bolivia has reduced the area under illicit coca production by 78% since 1997. Authorities in Peru have cut illicit exports of cocaine by 50% over the last decade. Laos remains the world's third largest producer of opium but has cut its output by 30% over the past 18 months. Opium poppy production in Vietnam has been reduced by 90% over the past decade. In contrast, Afghanistan produced about 5000 tonnes of opium in 1999 - a world record. The amount was down in 2000, due to a crackdown by the ruling Taleban and a devastating drought. The report said the drug agency aimed to phase out poppy cultivation in Afghanistan over the next five years, providing education, health facilities and employment outside the agricultural sector to realise that goal. The most widely consumed drug worldwide was still cannabis but heroin and cocaine were the costliest in terms of treatment, hospitalisation and drug-related violence. Some 14 million people worldwide were estimated to take cocaine. Its use had declined in the United States, but that country was still the world's largest cocaine market. The report also revealed a growing tendency toward the use of synthetic drugs, specifically amphetamine-type stimulants and, in particular, ecstasy. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth