UN chief stresses alternative crops in efforts to combat illicit drugs

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Tuesday called for a greater focus on growing alternative crops, along with positive development activities, in countries where illicit drugs and organized crime undermine people's lives and devastate societies.

In his video message to a high-level event on "Sustainable Development and the World Drug Problem," organized by the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Ban highlighted the importance of helping farmers grow alternative crops, and work to stabilize markets and create decent jobs.

"When we take these measures, we do more than fight drugs and crime -- we promote progress and peace," he said.

Illicit drugs and organized crime corrode fragile countries, weaken criminal justice systems and other state institutions, and destroy communities, Ban said. "Development activities can address these concerns."

According to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), opium poppy cultivation hit a record high in Afghanistan last year, rising by 36 percent, while production rose by almost half since 2012. In Southeast Asia, opium poppy cultivation in the area known as the Golden Triangle, which includes Myanmar, rose for the seventh consecutive year.

Some 200,000 people are victims of drug-related deaths, according to the latest "World Drug Report" compiled by ECOSOC. In 2012, between 162 million and 324 million people, corresponding to between 3.5 percent and 7 percent of the world population aged 15- 64, used an illicit drug -- mainly a substance belonging to the cannabis, opioid, cocaine or amphetamine-type stimulants group -- at least once in the previous year.