UN urges stand on internet drugs

Internet pharmacies can operate from any part of the world

Governments should do more to crack down on the illicit trade in controlled drugs over the internet, according to a new report by a UN organisation.

The International Narcotics Control Board reports that there is an increase in dealers using cyberspace to market narcotics and mind-altering drugs.

Its annual report says internet pharmacies are shipping prescription- only drugs across the globe.

They are targeting former patients who have become addicted to drugs, it says.

DRUGS AVAILABLE ON THE NET Abolon, an anabolic steroid Clozapine, an antipsychotic Evista for osteoporosis Hyzaar for high blood pressure Prozac for depression Ritalin for hyperactivity Tamoxifen for breast cancer Viagra for impotence

The report warns the drug ritalin - used to treat hyperactive children - carries a high risk of abuse but was advertised on some websites as a "mild and harmless stimulant".

It calls on governments to ask the judiciary to "ensure that adequate penalties be attributed" to people caught trafficking controlled drugs on the internet.

An INCB board member, Hamid Ghodse, told a news conference in London that the trafficking of controlled drugs over the internet was "extremely serious".

"There are more sites on how to make drugs, how to manufacture and produce them and even how to avoid detection by the police than there are on drugs education."

Global issues

The INCB also reported the following findings:

• European governments are creating a "permissive environment" for drug users, which could lead to a rise in the trade of illegal drugs across the continent.

• Europe is a major producer of synthetic drugs such as ecstasy. Governments should tighten controls on "precursors" - legal chemical compounds which are used to make illegal synthetic drugs.

• Drug traffickers are targeting middle-class US citizens with high-purity heroin that they can smoke rather than inject.

• A shift from growing crops to cultivating cannabis is worsening food shortages in Africa. The drugs trade is also funding wars in the continent.

• Turkmenistan is not doing enough to stem the flow of heroin coming from neighbouring Afghanistan. Afghanistan is the world's top producer of the opium poppy which is used to make heroin.