Poppy ban welcomed by UN drug control agency

The United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention (ODCCP) on Monday welcomed last week's decision by Afghanistan's new interim government to ban all poppy cultivation.

"We welcome this ban on the cultivation, production and trafficking of poppy and we look forward to working with the interim administration," Thomas Zeindl, ODCCP officer in charge told IRIN in the Pakistani capital Islamabad.

"This gives the legal basis for the battle to continue and demonstrates the commitment of the new interim administration to its international obligations," he explained.

Zeindl's comments follow Wednesday's announcement by the leader of the new Interim Administration in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, effectively banning the production, processing and trafficking of drugs such as opium and all of its ingredients.

ODCCP is working hard to make sure that drug control remains high on the list of reconstruction priorities and country representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Bernard Frahi is currently attending the two-day reconstruction conference in Tokyo this week to ensure just that.

In an interview with IRIN prior to the conference, Frahi said among the priorities and challenges being faced were the forthcoming opium harvest season in April and May this year; the need to deter farmers from cultivating opium poppy; the local opium markets which will have to be closed as part of the recovery programme and the existence of drug trafficking and processing laboratories.

But time is of the essence in this battle. While Afghanistan's new Interim Administration works to garner international support for reconstruction, establish security and strengthen its political control over the country following the overthrow of the hard-line Taliban regime in December, rural populations are desperately looking to provide for their families with whatever means at their disposal.

In a statement by ODCCP, there remains only a two to three month window of opportunity to ensure the ban is effective and meaningful. Reports already indicate that opium cultivation has resumed in some areas of the south since October, including the provinces of Uruzgan, Helmand, Nangarhar and Kandahar.

Commenting on the important role the international community can play in assisting opium farmers to grow other things, Frahi maintained: "Large scale rehabilitation programmes in the main provinces affected by poppy cultivation remain the solution to eliminate poppy cultivation in Afghanistan forever."

Although ODCCP has been unable to monitor the opium situation closely inside the country since the terrorist attacks on the United States last year, the agency is now preparing for its annual opium poppy survey in the country, with a pre-assessment study report due by the end of February and the full survey to be completed by September this year.

According to ODCCP, the global importance of the ban on opium poppy cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan is enormous. In recent years, the war-torn nation has been the main global source of illicit opium. An estimated 70 percent of all global illicit opium production in 2000 and up to 90 percent of heroin in European drug markets originated from the Central Asian nation.