Record opium crop in southern Afghanistan

Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, where some 7,000 British troops are based, is on the verge of becoming the world's biggest drugs supplier, cultivating more opium than entire countries such as Burma, Morocco, or even Colombia, the UN warned on June 27. The region was largely responsible for a huge increase last year in Afghanistan's opium poppy harvest, the origin of most of the heroin on the streets of Britain and mainland Europe. And Helmand's poppy harvest is expected to increase again this year, according to the latest annual report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. "Curing Helmand of its drug and insurgency cancer will rid the world of the most dangerous source of its most dangerous narcotic and go a long way to bring security to the region," said Antonio Maria Costa, the UN agency's executive director. A dramatic 49 percent increase last year to a record opium poppy harvest in the country led to a new record in the world production of opium, the UN says. Afghanistan accounts for 92 percent of global illicit opium production. The total export value of the country's opium harvest is estimated by the UN to amount to more than $3 billion, almost half the size of the country's entire gross domestic product. More than 12 percent of Afghanistan's population of 23 million is involved in opium poppy cultivation. There are about 11 million heroin addicts in the world, of which 3.3 million are in Europe, according to the UN report. It says the rise in Afghanistan's opium cultivation in 2006 offset the sixth successive year of decline in opium cultivation in south-east Asia.