” “"In Afghanistan, the illegal growing of opium poppies has increased by 59& in 2006, and the level of production has risen by nearly 50%, up to the record-breaking amount of 6,100 tons". This "substantial dealing" of both cocaine and controlled substances in Afghanistan and in Western Asia from Pakistan to Iran, a country where opiate consumption is the highest in the world is one of the findings of the Yearly Report of the International Narcotics Control Board (Incb), the UN board set up in 1968 to manage the enforcement of international conventions against drugs, which has been announced today. In 2006, the production of opium in north-eastern Afghanistan has increased, thus boosting drug dealing through central Asia: the consequence is that such countries as Iran, Pakistan and Central Asian countries "have to face a wide range of problems connected with large-scale drug dealing, such as organised crime, corruption and a fairly substantial illegal demand for opiates". In southern Asia too, says the Report, "the problems that for a long time have weighed on the legal control of pharmaceutical drugs containing controlled substances have led to the widespread consumption of such medications in all classes of the population".” “
