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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth

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From: geode00	3/1/2005 11:01:40 PM
	of 173976

UN warning to Britain on heroin The UK had the largest rate of heroin seizures and the third highest number of heroin addicts in Europe in 2004, the UN has warned. It said increased production in Afghanistan, where most of the UK's supply came from, had not helped. UN drugs watchdog the International Narcotics Control Board found the UK had Europe's highest amphetamine usage and the third highest for ecstasy. Cocaine abuse in the UK had also risen despite stabilising in Europe, it said. 'Wrong message' The rate of ecstasy use was higher only in the Irish Republic and the Czech Republic. In the INCB's annual report, president Professor Hamid Ghodse repeated concerns expressed in last year's report that the British government's reclassification of cannabis from Class B to Class C could send the wrong message to some users. The board is asking the international community to help Afghanistan in this - it can't happen in isolation Professor Hamid Ghodse INCB But the reclassification did not break international drug treaties, he said. Professor Ghodse warned that Afghanistan was in danger of becoming a "narcotic state" after producing its largest annual crop of heroin - 4,200 tons - since the overthrow of Taleban rule. He will call for international help for Afghanistan's drugs problem at a press conference in London on Wednesday. "The board is asking the international community to help Afghanistan in this - it can't happen in isolation," he will say. "The Afghanistan government needs to do something very serious, very quickly." The INCB warned the expansion of the EU could weaken border controls and hinder efforts to reduce drug trafficking. Some 90% of the heroin consumed in Britain and Europe comes from Afghanistan's poppy fields. Policy element Since allied forces ousted extremist Taleban rulers in December 2001, opium production has increased 20-fold. Tackling the drugs trade is a key element of UK policy in Afghanistan. Training an elite police unit to go after heroin labs and traffickers has been one course of action. Foreign Secretary Jack Straw announced last month that the government would double its aid to Afghanistan for fighting the country's drugs trade. He said Britain would give around £52m to counter narcotics programmes in the country over the next financial year. Half of the money will be devoted to schemes to provide opium poppy farmers with alternative sources of income. Mr Straw made the commitment after talks with the Afghan president Hamid Karzai in Kabul. Story from BBC NEWS: news.bbc.co.uk

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