Pubdate: Wed, 27 Feb 2002 Source: Reuters (Wire) Copyright: 2002 Reuters Limited Author: Louis Charbonneau UN WATCHDOG SAYS DRUG SALES BOOMING IN CYBERSPACE VIENNA - The United Nations narcotics watchdog said on Wednesday the use of the Internet and other new technologies by drug traffickers was complicating the struggle against the illegal drug trade and narcotics abuse. In its 2001 annual report, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said that narcotics were being sold over the Internet, often with the aid of private chat rooms protected by firewalls impenetrable to law enforcers. There were also jurisdictional problems created by cross-border criminal activity in cyberspace, exacerbated by the failure of some countries to adopt legislation on cybercrime. "The INCB is particularly concerned that countries without adequate legislation against crime involving new technologies may become sanctuaries," the board said in the report. Examples of cyber drug sales included reports from the Czech Republic that narcotics purchases were agreed online at Internet cafes or via mobile phones. Dutch companies were using the web to sell cannabis seeds and derivatives around the world. "The INCB is particularly concerned that young people are at risk from drug dealers in cyberspace using the Internet." The report said drug traffickers were using Internet banking to launder drug money, while online pharmacies were making prescription-only drugs readily available. The INCB said it was worried by the increase in intravenous heroin use in Africa, which it believed would abet the spread of HIV/AIDS infection on the continent. In South Africa alone, intravenous heroin use had increased 40 percent over the last three years. In North America, cocaine abuse appeared to be stabilising, although heroin abuse among young people was on the rise. After Afghanistan's former Taliban government banned the cultivation of opium in 2000, Myanmar became the world's top illicit opium producer last year. A prolonged drought also reduced Afghanistan's 2001 opium output, the report said. The board said Afghanistan was still a key country in the global opium trade and that after the war large quantities of opiates were released from illicit stocks. Throughout all of South Asia, heroin abuse is increasing, it said, and there had been a definite shift away from smoking and inhaling the drug toward injecting it. Heroin abuse was an increasing problem in central and eastern Europe, which remained a popular transit zone for drug traffickers. Intravenous heroin abuse was contributing to a rise in HIV and Hepatitis C infections in the region. The board also urged countries to resist increasing calls for the legalisation of cannabis, saying it would be a "historical mistake" to treat it like alcohol or tobacco. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek