UN warns of amphetamine popularity

The main United Nations drugs agency has noted a drastic increase in the manufacture, trafficking and abuse of amphetamine-type stimulants in East and South-East Asia.

In its annual report, the International Narcotics Control Board said this growth would pose a major challenge to governments.

The agency praised Laos, Thailand and Vietnam for reducing the supply of drugs.

It also said illicit opium production had declined in recent years in Burma, but noted that a new heroin trafficking route had opened up through the north-eastern Indian states bordering Burma Mizoram, Manipur and Nagaland.

Afghanistan and Burma were responsible for almost 95 percent of opium production in 1999.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service