Month: September 2011

Vienna, 13 sep (EFE).-the United Nations warned today that drug synthesis, such as Ecstasy and methamphetamine, are the second type of illegal narcotic drugs most consumed on the planet, after cannabis, and have emerged in recent years a threat growing for the health and stability.

“While (the market of) heroin, cocaine and cannabis has remained fairly stable during the period from 2005 to 2009, amphetamine-type stimulants showed a marked increase over the same period”, according to a report on these substances of the Office of the United Nations on drugs and crime (UNODC).

The United Nations recognizes that it is very difficult to control this type of designer – drugs very harmful to the health – because depend on their manufacture exclusively chemicals can create anywhere at a low price and without leaving trace.

Can “as opposed to drugs of plant, such as opioids or cocaine base of synthetic drugs be manufactured anywhere with little initial investment”, warns the UN.

This makes it also difficult to establish the number of consumers, although according to seizures, the UN says that you there are between 14 and 57 million people aged between 15 and 64 years who have tried them in the last year.

By geographical areas, the amphetamine-type stimulants have experienced a boom in Southeast Asia and some countries of Eastern Europe, but no region of the world is immune to its expansion.

They also warn that the magnitude of the problem is not well reflected given that large countries such as the India and China have not done so far estimates of consumption.

In Latin America, with the priority in the fight against cocaine, has not considered this drug as a “significant threat”, says the UN.

Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina are the countries which show a higher rate of consumption in the amphetamine-type stimulants, while Argentina tops records in synthetic the ecstasy group of drugs.

The United Nations is “concerned” by the growing use of these drugs among American youth and exposes the example of Argentina, which has gone from a prevalence in ecstasy use among students in 2001 of 0.2% to 2.6% in 2009.

Also stresses that it has dismantled an increasing number of laboratories in Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

This type of drug laboratory, as well as being “affordable and easy-to-manufacture”, allows criminal networks exploit new markets to get great benefits, explains Nations United.

“The market for amphetamine-type stimulants has gone from being a practical landlady of manufacturing on a small scale to become a market similar to that of heroin or cocaine, with greater integration and involved organized crime groups,” warned the head of UNODC, Russian Yuri Fedotov.

Substances known as amphetamines and ecstasy, UN warns of “high danger” of new synthetic drugs which are beyond the international control and can be purchased over the Internet with utmost ease.

An example is the mefedrona, which is announced as fertilizer for plants or salts of bath, and although it is “very dangerous” because of its high toxicity – health in Europe there are already several cases of deaths-can be purchased online and is still legal in many countries.

Criminal organizations take advantage of the legal vacuum with these substances called “legal highs” (legal subidones) because unless they are banned usually take some time due to required toxicological testing once detected.

Pictures supplied by the Guardia Civil Spanish after the arrest of 73 people in two simultaneous anti-drug operations developed in areas of entertainment from Ibiza. Various drugs such as cocaine, Crystal, speed, pills and hashish were seized in operations. EFE/file