Afghan opium revenues down 18% in 2009

The estimated value of opium and opium derivatives produced in Afghanistan fell significantly between 2008 - 2009, reducing revenues for drug producers and traffickers in the region, according to a new UN survey.

The survey reports that the potential export value of Afghan opium fell by 18% in 2009 to US$2.8 billion, due to a number of factors. Cultivation and production have fallen in many regions, with 20 of the 34 regions that make up the country now classed as 'poppy free', up from 18 in 2008. Also, opium prices are lower on the world market due to over-production in previous years leading to an excess of supply.

Governments of NATO countries are likely to hail the findings as evidence of success for their anti-narcotics operations. However, this would be an overly-simplistic interpretation of the data. The report suggests that market forces may be the primary cause for the decrease, citing the glut of cheap Afghani opium on the world market. Although opium production is markedly down in some regions, in the volatile Western region, it increased by 26% from 2008.

According to the UN Afghan Opium Survey report:

"Security has been a major problem in the Western region. Because the lack of security compromises the rule of law from the legitimate Government, counter-narcotic interventions are limited and this region consistently show very high opium cultivation."

Despite the fall in revenues, opium is still big business in Afghanistan, with opiate revenues amounting to a staggering 25% of GDP in 2009.

In a statement commenting on the report's findings, UNDOC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa, said:

"Annual fluctuations of opium cultivation and production do not tell the whole story ... I hope that the new Afghan National Drug Control Strategy, currently under preparation, will reassert that success will come when Afghanistan's farmers have sustainable licit livelihoods, when drug traffickers no longer operate with impunity, and when people no longer have to pay bribes for basic services. The alternative of a society wracked by drugs, insurgency, and corruption is untenable."

Read more in the full Afghan Opium Survey (18MB PDF), from the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime

Did drug money prop up the banking system during the meltdown?

A new report from the head of the UN office for Drugs and Crime suggests that some major financial institutions may have only survived after injections of liquidity from narcotics gangs.

Apparently, drug proceeds were one of very few sources of liquidity during the global meltdown last year and some unnamed banks may have relied on such streams to avoid going under.

Full report over at The Guardian

Meow update 2: more UK tabloid exposure for 'Mephedrone Menace'

As predicted, the UK tabloid press has finally picked up on the Mephedrone phenomenon.

Following hot on the heels of The Sun, this time it's the Daily Mail running an exposé on the widely-available, cheap, legal drug that some users have hailed as the 'saviour of clubland' in the UK.

In his article in the Mail, Paul Brachi investigates a website which provides deliveries of Mephedrone in the London area by courier until 3am. Curiously, in one of the photos accompanying the article, the website address (http://www.plantfood2u.com/) is clearly visible on a label on a bag of Mephedrone, thereby providing the company with massive free publicity.

For those unfamiliar with the Daily Mail, the stories it runs are considered some of the more sensationalist in the British press. That said, Narcotrends found this particular piece to be reasonably balanced and fairly well researched, with the exception of this marvellous explanation of how the 'meow meow' street name for Mephedrone arose:

"Mephedrone is often combined with Ketamine, a horse tranquilliser, which helps to relax you after the Mephedrone high. The street name 'meow meow' derives from the fact Ketamine is sometimes called Ket. Ket sounds like cat (as in meow meow)."

Indeed.

Narcotrends would timidly suggest that perhaps the abbreviated chemical name 'mmcat' (4-methylmethcathinone) might be a more likely source of the nickname.

Despite occasional lapses into scare-mongering, the article does a surprisingly good job of highlighting the growing use of Mephedrone in the UK and the lack of any legal framework to control it.

Read more at the Daily Mail

'Meow' update: UK tabloid picks up on mephedrone after teen death

Further to our recent item on Mephedrone use in the UK, it seems that tabloid newspaper The Sun is connecting the drug with the tragic death of a teenage girl in the UK.

According to the article, 14 year old Gabi Price died of cardiac arrest at 10pm on Saturday 21st November after falling ill at a house party where, according to an unnamed neighbour, she was taking mephedrone mixed with ketamine.

The post mortem results are not yet in, but typically this has not stopped the UK tabloid press from speculating about the cause of death. NarcoTrends expects many more sensationalist stories about mephedrone in the near future.

Read the full article over at The Sun.

Call "meow" if you want a good time?

Mephedrone use is becoming increasingly widespread among drug-users in the UK. Our roving reporter sheds light on this research chemical gone recreational.

There's a new slang term in the narcotic vocabulary: meow. Cats will never be looked at the same way again as mephedrone, also known as 4-methylmethcathinone (4-MMC), has become such a popular recreational drug that it has its own nickname. Festivals, clubs and houseparties this summer seemed increasingly awash with the psychoactive stimulant that is completely legal and becoming a firm favourite with ravers.

It's effects have been compared to MDMA and cocaine, though neither really do it justice. Mephedrone offers a happy buzz and the positivity that goes with it, throw in a dash of alertness and it's an ideal dance drug or seen as perfect for all night houseparties. Sold as plant feeder, there's plenty of ways of getting your hands on meow and at around £12 a gram, it's cheap.

With genuine ecstasy pills and MDMA in short supply, it's no surprise meow use is on the increase, together with another two substances, methylone and butylone, which are often combined with mephedrone for a heightened experience. Yet, despite being legal in most countries right now, meow's already been banned in Israel, Norway, Sweden and the US. Why? One girl died in December last year in Sweden and it's side effects could prove quite telling as the authorities in other countries face up to the prospect of widespread use.

Extreme anxiety and poor circulation causing hands and feet to go blue are two of the most common symptoms of use, both signs of its toxicity. How long mephedrone will continue it's legality remains to be seen - the UK media, normally so quick to launch tirades against anything that might disrupt the social status quo, has been quiet on the matter. Given the sharp uptake in mephedrone's popularity and sudden appearance of websites selling the substance suggests it won't be ignored for much longer.

Rio's drug gangs: barely breaking even?

There's been plenty in the news lately about the recent spate of violence in Rio's favelas, in which a police helicopter was brought down by gunfire and several buses were set alight. The law enforcement authorities in Rio certainly have their work cut out if they wish to project the image of a safe city in time for the 2016 Olympics, which the city recently won.

Trawling through the deluge of articles in the mainstream media in the aftermath of the October flare-up, there are a couple which stand out, offering a deeper insight into the complex issue of drug crime in the city's slums.

The first is this excellent article by Tom Phillips in the Guardian. His documentary, Dancing with the Devil, will be shown on UK TV this week (More 4, Tuesday 10th November, 10pm) and should be well worth viewing if you have access to it.

In the article, Phillips describes his experiences riding with the drug gangs as well as with a local preacher who is doing his best to turn the young men away from violence. (Note: any reporters thinking of heading into the favelas to do a spot of investigative reporting should ensure they have arranged their visit beforehand with the right people, as this guy found out)

Secondly, is this item in The Economist (free 14 day registration may be required, though the link worked fine without it at the time of writing). The Economist doesn't bother pontificating on the moral issues surrounding drug-dealing and violence in the slums, but instead zeroes in on - as you might expect - the economics of the situation. Rio's drug trade (the majority of which is in cocaine) is controlled by 3 competing factions, unlike many cities where one group exercises overall market dominance. The result, the article argues, citing a recent study, is that the gangs are operating at close to break-even, when wages and equipment (guns and body armour) have been accounted for:

"Using a conservative estimate for total annual drugs sales in the city, of R$316m ($182m), the study reckons that after buying the product from wholesalers, employing a sales force and investing in capital (guns, mainly), Rio’s dealers make combined annual profits of R$27m ($15m)"

In this context, the fierce violence that occurs as the gangs battle it out for supremacy can be explained succinctly; the gangs are fighting for control of a market which could be a lot more lucrative if some of the competition could be eliminated. Throw Rio's notoriously well-armed and heavy-handed military police into the equation and you have a recipe for bloodshed on all sides.

Cocaine vaccine imminent?

Researchers are hopeful about developing an effective vaccine against cocaine, after a recent study showed tentatively positive results.

The aim of the research is to develop a vaccine which would prevent cocaine users from getting high when they imbibe the drug, thus helping to break the cycle of dependence by reducing the reward factor for the user.

A team from the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, lead by Thomas Kosten, M.D. used a cholera toxin combined with cocaine molecules in the vaccine they recently tested on human patients. The objective of the vaccine is to encourage the human body to develop antibodies which latch onto cocaine molecules and prevent them from passing through the blood-brain barrier, and hence preventing the user from getting high.

Their recent human-based, placebo-controlled, double-blind study used a sample of 94 cocaine-using participants of a methadone treatment program. The participants were also opiate-abusers (hence their participation in the methadone program). Urine samples were collected from the subjects three times per week to monitor levels of cocaine consumption. One group were given a high dose of the vaccine, another a low dose, and the control group were given no dose.

38% of those in the high-dose group no longer experienced a cocaine high and 53% of those in the high-dose group abstained from cocaine use for more than half of the trial period. The low-dose group fared less well, with 25% staying away from coke for more than half of the trial.

Whilst far from a runaway success, the results seem to show that a vaccine may be effective in some cases. Even in their current form, this vaccine may prove to a very useful compliment to traditional abstinence-based treatment programs. The authors of the study are keen to point out that animal studies involving more advanced vaccines donated from pharmaceutical firms have proved significantly more effective, suggesting that more research could lead to better results in humans.

The complete study is available here at the Archives of General Psychiatry (subscription required).

Read more for free at WiredUK and Scientific American and Time

UK Navy siezes 5.5 tonnes of cocaine off Colombian coastline

The UK's Royal Navy have seized a record amount of cocaine in an anti-smuggling operation.

Operating on intelligence from helicopter surveillance, navy frigate HMS Iron Duke intercepted a fishing boat - the MV Cristal - off the coast of Colombia. After a 24hour search, 212 bales of cocaine, each weighing approximately 26kg, were discovered underneath some concrete ballast in a hidden compartment of the boat.

HMS Iron Duke is ostensibly in the region to provide assistance in the event of a hurricane disaster, but also engages in anti-trafficking operations.

Although boats carrying cocaine are believed to leave the shores of South America many times a day, this is only the 3rd drug seizure in as many months for HMS Iron Duke. Small wonder, then, that the frigate's commander, Andrew Stacey, talks up the success of the operation. Speaking to the press, Stacey said:

"This is the largest seizure of cocaine in Royal Navy history, and is a very significant victory in the continuing fight against illegal drugs"

Despite the notable quantity of the drug seized, it is unlikely that purity or price of cocaine will be affected. World cocaine prices have continued to fall over the last decade, though purity at street level can vary markedly.

Read at BBC News, with some decent commentary on the affair at The Independent, courtesy of Tom Sutcliffe.

Minneapolis shuts down police Narcotics division

The city of Minneapolis has decided to shut down its narcotics division - the unit responsible for tracking down and busting mid to high-level drug dealers and producers - ostensibly under pressure to reduce a budget defecit.

The Minneapolis Police Department apparently has a $5million budget defecit and feels that closing the 14-officer unit is a sensible way to save some cash. The unit apparently investigated around 4000 cases this year and its closure is likely to cause a backlash from concerned citizens.

Lt. Przynski, the officer leading the disbanded unit, said:

"This unit has been highly productive, if not the most productive unit in the Minneapolis Police Department," Przynski said. I'm disappointed, and so are my officers, about this decision."

The city's police chief, Tim Dolan, believes that the force can still combat the illegal narcotics trade effectively without the division, though it is unclear how he reaches this conclusion. Initially, the members of the narcotics unit will be re-assigned to duties such as street patrols.

Hinting at darker issues than budget-balancing, City Council Member Ralph Remington, said:

"The department could save a lot of money if they corrected the bad behavior of a few bad cops [...] I just learned today that the chief was cutting the narcotics unit, so I want to look at the issue more closely."

Minneapolis PD has also cut down their canine, hostage negotiation and SWAT units, though has not disbanded them completely.

Read more at the Star Tribune

Smart Drugs Reviewed

There's an excellent ' smart drugs roundup' at wired.com.

Whether they are Herbal, Chemical or Hybrid solutions, Nootropics or 'smart drugs' will play an increasing role in society as people strive to compete in an evermore crowded marketplace.

The Wired article takes a look at some of the popular products out there which purport to boost brain function such as memory retention or cognitive skills.

Whilst Wired admits that their roundup is subjective and far from a proper scientific study, their reviewer, Alexis Fitts, gives a great insight into her own experience of the products. Alexis found that many of the products did indeed seem to boost brain function.

Vancouver's drug labs

BBC News are carrying an interesting story about drug gangs operating in Vancouver.

Vancouver is a hotspot for organised drug gangs due to the strategic location of the port city and the relatively lax importation restrictions for precursor chemicals. Precursors for a range of drugs including ecstacy, amphetamine and methamphetamine can be obtained and shipped to Canada at pretty low risk. In Vancouver, many clandestine labs ('clan labs') are operating, turning these precursors into ecstasy tablets or crystal meth in short order.

Only the labs which are targeted by intelligence-led operations (around 35-40 per year), or bring themselves to the attention of the authorities (for example by catching fire) are shut down. We can safely assume there are plenty more that go undetected. The BBC article indicates that, whilst the USA is the primary market for the synthetic drugs produced in these labs, BC-produced drugs are now finding routes into the global marketplace.

Argentina decriminalizes private marijuana use

Argentina has decided that it is unconstitutional to punish marijuana users, folllowing the arrest and prosecution of five young men.

"The state cannot establish morality," said Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti in a recent ruling, adding that "Each adult is free to make lifestyle decisions without the intervention of the state".

The court made clear that the ruling applied to personal consumption only and that trafficking was in now way condoned.

This follows a wider trend in Latin America whereby countries are slowly moving away from a harcore prohibitionist stance on personal drug consumption.

Full story: Buenos Aries Herald and BBC News