A profoundly alarming trend in the cultivation and production of opium in Afghanistan reveals an 87 per cent production increase compared to 2016, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has said in its Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017.<br/>It is high time for the international community and Afghanistan to reprioritise drug control, and to acknowledge that every nation has a shared responsibility for this global problem, said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.<br/><br/>According to the latest figures released by the Afghan Ministry of Counter Narcotics and UNODC, in addition to an 87 per cent jump to a record level of 9,000 metric tonnes in 2017, the area under opium poppy cultivation also increased to a record 328,000 hectares in 2017, up 63 per cent compared with 201,000 hectares in 2016.<br/>Pointing to the multiple challenges the increase would pose for the country, Mr. Fedotov stressed, that Afghanistan, already suffering from the opium produced within its borders, the increases will drive drug abuse, an increased dependency on the illicit economy, and rising levels of corruption.

A profoundly alarming trend in the cultivation and production of opium in Afghanistan reveals an 87 per cent production increase compared to 2016, the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) has said in its Afghanistan Opium Survey 2017.<br/><br/>It is high time for the international community and Afghanistan to reprioritise drug control, and to acknowledge that every nation has a shared responsibility for this global problem, said UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov.