Ecstasy and related drugs most abused in Asia, UN

New York, 26 Nov-(ANA)-Stimulants, particularly methamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, are the drugs most widely abused in East and South-East Asia and have displaced the use of traditional narcotics such as heroin, opium and cannabis, a United Nations report has said today.

 The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), said between 3.4 million and 20.7 million people in the region have used amphetamines in the past year -- a sizeable number of the estimated 14 million to 53 million global users -- and a worrying health and law enforcement concern.

 The report, entitled "Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs: Asia and the Pacific", provides a consolidated review of the current developments with regard to the illicit manufacturing, trafficking and use of ATS in Asia and the Pacific.

The study indicates that in recent years these drugs have become an increasingly widespread health and organized crime threat in Asia and the Pacific. (ANA)

FA/ANA/26 November 2010------