Opium from Afghanistan has a devastating effect on health and security in several regions and causes up to 100,000 deaths globally per year, dpa quoted the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as saying in a report that was issued in Vienna today. Although opium production was down by 10 per cent this year in Afghanistan, the country remains by far the biggest producer of this illicit crop. The report on threats posed by Afghan drugs said that the effects of Afghan opium can be felt in especially in Europe, Russia, India, China, and on trade routes to those countries. In NATO member countries, over 10,000 people die each year of heroin overdoses. This is five times more than the total number of NATO troops killed in Afghanistan in the past eight years. In Central Asia, drug usage is causing an HIV epidemic. "The perfect storm of drugs, crime and insurgency that has swirled around the Afghanistan-Pakistan border for years is heading for Central Asia," UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa said. The UN drugs agency also reported that the Taliban now earn more money with opium than during the time they were in power in the 1990s. The earnings have risen to between and 90 and 160 million dollars per year. "The Taliban"s direct involvement in the opium trade allows them to fund a war machine that is becoming technologically more complex and increasingly widespread," Costa said.
