ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: Pakistan has one of the highest opiate addiction rates in the world and the smugglers are increasingly using the country for trafficking drugs after the launch of the war against terrorism in Afghanistan, UN Drug Control Programme official Thomas Zeiendl Cronin said here on Wednesday.

Speaking on the occasion of the launch of the International Narcotics Control Board Report 2001 at the United Nations Information Centre, the official said Pakistan remained an important transit country for opiate and hashish produced in the region.

“Drug smugglers have changed their trafficking routes through Pakistan rather than Iran during the last one year particularly after the launch of the war against terrorism in Afghanistan.”

Considering the events of the last year and the sharp decline in poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2001, it was interesting to note that seizures of heroin in Pakistan decreased only by 17 per cent, the official said, adding that there was a trend showing relative increase in the smuggling of heroin as compared to opium.

Quoting the provisional figures compiled by the Anti-Narcotics Force of Pakistan, he said the law enforcement agencies of the country had seized 7,794kg heroin, 4,960kg opium and 71,930kg hashish in 2001. He added that one of the largest single seizures had been reported in January 2002 when 630kg heroin and 250kg morphine had been seized by the ANF from a caravan of 12 camels near Mand in Balochistan.

Mr Cronin said that since the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghanistan was no more a safe heaven for terrorists and criminal networks had shifted their networks to more secure areas. He remarked that the Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate opium poppy cultivation by the year 2000 and the large scale alternate development projects funded by the international community had led to a massive decline in poppy cultivation in the country over the past decade.

He said poppy cultivation had decreased from approximately 9,400 hectares in 1992 to a few hectares mainly cultivated in isolated areas of the Khyber Agency of the NWFP by the year 2001.

Emphasizing the need to prevent resumption of poppy cultivation, he proposed further development efforts in the former poppy growing areas to consolidate the achievements.

The official said opiate addiction rates in Pakistan remained among the highest in the world.

Asked if the number of drug addicts in the country was 500,000 and not 3.5 million as erroneously pointed out by the UNDCP in one of its surveys, he said half a million people were hardcore chronic addicts. “Utilizing improved methodologies, UNDCP and the government of Pakistan have recently re-assessed the drug abuse situation in the country.”

Mr Cronin expressed concern on recent trends that indicated shift from the traditional inhaling and smoking of heroin to injecting of drugs in Pakistan.

He said the results from a study by the UNDCP and the UNAIDS revealed that needle sharing and the multiple use of injection needles was a common practice in the so-called “shooting galleries” that emerged in Lahore and Karachi.

Over half of the injecting drug abusers used a syringe after others had already used it, he added.

“Although no cases of HIV/AIDS have been detected in the study, the high prevalence of Hepatitis C in 180 out of 200 cases indicate the high potential of an HIV/AIDS epidemic and other transmittable diseases among the intravenous drug users.”