UNSG prioritizes UN reform to ensure taxpayers’ money reaches to those in need

By Anjali Sharma

UNITED NATIONS – According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime agency data released on Wednesday showed that the prices for opium in Afghanistan have increased tenfold since the de facto authorities imposed a drug ban in 2022 since the Taliban came into power in Kabul.

UNODC stated that one kilogramme of opium cost $750 last year, up from $75 just three years ago, compensated sellers for the loss in overall production and poppy fields.

UN agency reported that “Heroin and opium seizures are down about 50 per cent in weight since 2021,” highlighted that the post-ban decrease in production in Afghanistan has led to a decline in opiate trafficking.

UNODC noted that opium is the naturally occurring primary active ingredient used in the production of heroin, a more potent, synthetic drug. Three main global sources of illegal opium are Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar.

The agency noted that because of the higher prices, “massive profits are still being made, primarily benefiting high-level traders and exporters in organized crime groups.”

UN agency estimates that opiate stocks at the end of 2022 totaled 13,200 tonnes, enough to potentially meet demand for Afghan opiates until 2027.

UNODC executive director Ghada Waly said that “The surge in opium prices and the substantial stockpiles mean that drug trafficking in Afghanistan remains a highly profitable illicit trade”.

“The profits are being channeled to transnational organized crime groups, destabilizing Afghanistan, the region and beyond. We need a coordinated counter-narcotics strategy that targets trafficking networks while at the same time investing in viable economic livelihoods for farmers to provide long-term stability for Afghanistan and its people.”

Afghanistan’s stockpiles before the drop in opium cultivation are believed to have been worth between $4.6 billion and $5.9 billion, or roughly 23 to 29 per cent of the country’s economy in 2023, the data showed.

UNODC said that this may have helped some ordinary Afghans to withstand the crippling economic problems the country has faced since the return of the de facto authorities.

UN agency has warned that with 60 per cent of stockpiles likely in the hands of large traders and exporters and only 30 per cent of farmers holding “small to modest” reserves in 2022, “most farmers who previously cultivated opium are likely experiencing severe financial hardship,” .

The sustainable economic alternatives are urgently needed to discourage them from returning to poppy cultivation, particularly given today’s high opium prices, it said.

UN agency warned that the continued shortage of opium may motivate buyers and sellers to look to alternative drugs that are potentially even more harmful than heroin, such as fentanyl or other synthetic opioids.