Cocaine, opiate markets ‘shrink’

(BBC): Global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or declining, the UN’s annual drug report says. Opium cultivation in Afghanistan fell by 19% in 2008 while cocaine production in Colombia dropped 28%, it says. Consumption of the drugs in major markets in Western countries is said to be stable or declining. But the production and consumption of synthetic drugs are thought to be growing as they shift increasingly to the developing world. In its report, the UN Office for Drugs and Crime said that what used to be a cottage industry producing synthetic drugs – amphetamines, methamphetamine and ecstasy – has now become "big business".

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