Illicit drug manufacturing could use the war in Ukraine to thrive, the UN warned Monday (June 27) amid experiences of conflict elsewhere.
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“Reports from the Middle East and Southeast Asia tend to suggest that conflict situations can act as a magnet for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, which can actually be manufactured anywhere,” the report says. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNFDC) in its annual report. “This effect can be even greater if the conflict zone is near large hypermarkets,” he adds.
Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine had a growing number of amphetamine laboratories, expert Angela Me said in an interview with AFP. Almost 80 have been dismantled in 2020, compared to 17 in 2019. This production capacity “could be expanded if the conflict continues”. “The police are no longer there to stop the activities of the labs,” she explains. War can also “disrupt smuggling routes,” the report notes, pointing to a possible decline in Ukraine since early 2022.
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Global Impact
Angela Me also calls for monitoring of the situation in Afghanistan, which produced 86% of the world’s opium in 2021. In April, the Taliban supreme leader ordered a ban on poppy cultivation. “We have to see if this leads to a drastic reduction,” emphasizes the expert, or if, on the contrary, the illegal fields are developing due to the deterioration of socio-economic conditions in this country.
Any change will “affect almost every region of the world,” warns the UN. Around 284 million people worldwide – one in 18 in the 15-64 age group – touched drugs in 2020, up 26% from a decade earlier. While the majority are men, women take strong amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) but are “underrepresented in treatment,” Angela Me laments. She mentions “a double stigma” and the need to establish places where they feel comfortable.” safe” and can stay with their children.
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Another notable figure, the production of cocaine hit a new record at 1,982 tons in 2020, according to its own bureaus and analysis of open sources, media and institutional reports.
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