Pubdate: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 Source: Register-Guard, The (OR) Copyright: 2001 The Register-Guard Contact: http://www.registerguard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/362 Author: Associated Press Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) INSPECTIONS SEEK EVIDENCE OF DRUG CROP ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Inspectors from skeptical foreign governments began crisscrossing Afghanistan on Wednesday to check claims that the world's main producer of opium, the sticky sap used to make heroin, has wiped out the crop in less than a year. Fields of green poppy pods, a major cash crop in the war- and drought-stricken country, were banned in July by the ruling Taliban militia's hardline leader, the reclusive Mullah Mohammed Omar. The United Nations Drug Control Program sent inspectors and concluded in March that the plants were gone. But countries battling heroin addiction are doubtful, and on Wednesday they sent a team of 15 investigators, including two Americans. Last year's opium harvest in Afghanistan was 4,000 tons - about 72 percent of production worldwide. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager