This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
Trade in illegal drugs is harming the economies of developingnations. That is the warning contained in a recent report by theInternational Narcotics Control Board, or I-N-C-B. The I-N-C-B is anindependent part of the United Nations. The agency, based in Vienna,examines to see if countries obey international treaties againstillegal drugs.
The report says the drug economy traps people in poverty indeveloping countries. This creates serious social problems. Theillegal drug trade can lead to higher crime, weaker governments anddamaged political systems. The U-N drug control agency arguesagainst the idea that countries can grow wealthy by producingillegal drugs. Such a belief, it says, is false and dangerous.
Growing and processing illegal drugs can provide jobs for farmersand laboratory workers. However, the control board warns that theseeconomic gains are only short-term. It says farmers who grow illegalcrops earn just one percent of the money spent by drug users.Ninety-nine percent of the profits go to the people who transportand sell the drugs around the world. Most of that money is made indeveloped countries.
Philip Emafo heads the International Narcotics Control Board. Hesays Colombia is an example of a country where economic growthdropped as the farming of coca plants to produce cocaine increased.Mister Emafo says the same situation happened in Afghanistan.Economic growth decreased as the growing of poppy plants to makeopium increased sharply in the early nineteen-nineties. Bycomparison, the report says countries have improved their economieswhen they cut drug production.
The narcotics control board also warns that easing drug laws inWestern countries can send misleading messages to the rest of theworld. Recently, Britain decided to ease punishments against peoplefound with the cannabis plant. Philip Emafo, the board president,says the decision could cause young people to believe that smokingmarijuana is acceptable. Governments, he says, should not beinfluenced by a minority of citizens who want to make drug uselegal.
To help fight the illegal drug trade, the U-N agency calls formore international aid for farmers. The money would help farmerschange from growing drug-related crops to growing legal ones.
This VOA Special English Development Report was written by JillMoss.