While
the US does not receive large quantities of illegal
drugs from Asia, historically Burma and Afghanistan
have provided the raw materials for much of the
world's heroin. In 2000, the US received only
about 5% of its heroin from Afghanistan when it
was the world's leading opium/heroin producer
with 65,510 hectares of opium cultivation. In
2000, the Taliban, governing Afghanistan at the
time, controlled over 96 percent of the area where
opium poppy was cultivated. Afghanistan managed
to reduce its production levels by 97% from 2000
to a record low of 1,685 hectares in 2001. The
Taliban were able to achieve this significant
reduction by imposing a ban on poppy cultivation
the year prior in July 2000.
Despite the Afghanistan poppy ban, large seizures
of opiates originating in Afghanistan continued
to be made in Pakistan and other neighboring countries
in 2001. This indicated that, despite the poppy
ban, drug traffickers were able to draw on stockpiles
of opium produced in Afghanistan over the last
several years. It is uncertain what stockpiles
remain or what cultivation to expect in 2002.
In 2001, Burma and Laos ranked as the world's
leading opium producers, with 105,000 hectares
of poppy in Burma and 22,000 hectares in Laos.
With reports that farmers had started to replant
opium in Afghanistan during the 2001 October-December
planting season it is not known what effect this
may have on the world's heroin production. The
US remains concerned that Afghanistan could return
to its position as the largest opium producer
and considers the interim government an excellent
opportunity to see that Afghanistan rid itself
of being known as the world's largest supplier
of heroin.
Source: ONDCP Fact Sheet:
"Breaking Heroin Sources of Supply,"
March 2002
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