Opium

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a U.N. report published Sunday.

Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made.

Turkish security forces have seized 53 tons of marijuana, 20 and a half tons of heroin and 114 million root cannabis as part of the drug operations conducted since the beginning of this year, the country's interior minister has said.

Police seized 473.6 kilograms of heroin in simultaneous operations conducted on two warehouses in Turkey's east, a security source said on Nov. 10.

A large number of illegal drugs were seized in anti-narcotic operations in Turkey on Nov. 30, officials said.

Over 50 kg (over 110 lbs.) heroin and 150 liters of acetic anhydride, a chemical compound used in heroin production, were seized in southeast Hakkari province.

For thousands of years, drugs have been part of culture, society and human experience. Worldwide drug use statistics provide an interesting insight into how we treat narcotic drugs and the addicts.

Iran seized 8.8 tonnes of drugs destined for Europe and busted one of the three largest crime groups for drug trafficking, police officials reported on Thursday.

The teams of the District Customs Directorate and Anti-Trafficking at the Turkish Ministry of Commerce seized 42 kilos of opium at the Hamsabayli-Lesovo border checkpoint at the Turkish-Bulgarian border.
 

Researchers at the University of York and the British Museum have discovered traces of opiates preserved inside a vessel from Cyprus dating back to the Late Bronze Age.

Police seized a total of 3,700 opium poppy plants in the region of Viotia in central Greece Tuesday and arrested four foreign nationals - three Indians, aged 36, 47 and 58, and a 28-year-old Pakistani.

Authorities are also looking for a 64-year-old Greek man.

Three of those arrested did not have residence permits.

Opiate production in Afghanistan has risen by 90% and reached a record 9,000 tonnes in 2017, according to the UN. Executive Director of the United Nations Drugs and Crime Unit, Yuri Fedotov, announced these figures at a session of the UN Security Council on Afghanistan.