Azernews.Az

BAKU – The number of drug users in Azerbaijan increased 2,500 to around 26,000 in 2010, according to official estimates, but the actual number is "likely to be much higher", says Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov, who heads the state body on fighting drug addiction and trafficking.

Hasanov told reporters that overall, the number of drug users is on the rise worldwide and has exceeded 300 million.

He said further that production of drugs has surged 78 percent in the world in the past 12 years. Nonetheless, in the past two to three years a reduction on some drugs has been cited in a UN report, with cocaine output decreasing 16 pct and that of Afghan hashish 19 pct.

"The main producers of cocaine are in Peru, Colombia and Malaysia," Hasanov said. "Hashish is produced in Afghanistan, and narcotics made there are mainly transported to Russia and western Europe. A kilogram of Afghanistan-made drugs sells for $2,000 in this country, and $44,300 in western Europe. And this shows that there is a demand for Afghan drugs in western European markets."

Hasanov said that narcotics from Afghanistan are brought to Azerbaijan as well. The drugs cross the country mainly by three routes: from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan through Iran, from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan through Pakistan and Iran, and from Afghanistan to Azerbaijan via Central Asia.

"There is also a fourth route – through Iran to Nagorno Karabakh [an Armenia-occupied region of Azerbaijan where separatists are running a self-proclaimed republic]. The drugs are taken by the separatist regime to Russia and western Europe."

Hasanov added that "the world model of anti-drug fight" is outdated, and anti-drug laws should be toughened.