UN Security Council to discuss problem of Afghani drugs

An open session of the UN Security Council will take place in New York on Tuesday to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. The main attention will be paid to the consideration of the question of countering the drug threat coming from the territory of that country.

Russia, chairing the UN Security Council this June, has initiated this session. As the Russian Foreign Ministry reported, the scale of the production and the distribution of the Afghani drugs causes concern in the world, especially "in the countries of the region and transit countries, including Russia." According to the data of the United Nations, in 2002 the area under opium poppy in Afghanistan amounted to 70,000 - 80,000 hectares, nearly ten times more than in 2001, and a record amount of raw opium was produced - more than 4,500 tons. This year, according to the forecasts, 6,000 tons of raw opium will be produced (600 tons in a heroin equivalent).

According to the estimates of the United Nations, the world income from the illegal sale of drugs is estimated at approximately $25 billion. According to the Russian experts, many terrorist acts in the world, including in Russia, Asia and the United States, were organised by using the money from drug trafficking.