Online Drugs Are A Headache

Online drugs are a headache

BANGKOK - Online trafficking in restricted drugs like Valium and diet pills is flourishing on the internet and Thailand, India and Pakistan are main centres for the illegal trade, the United Nations said Wednesday.

UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) official Ingve Danling said the internet had become a haven for drug dealers and a headache for authorities trying to crack down on the trade in prescription and banned drugs.

"People can buy a lot of medicine for which you would normally need a prescription but it is abused and this is more common actually than narcotic drugs," said Danling.

Most of the traffic was in tranquillisers such as Valium, stimulants like diet pills, the 'date-rape' drug Rohypnol, and Ritalin, which is normally used to treat attention deficit disorders among children.

"Thailand has been identified, but also countries producing a lot of pharmaceutical and so-called generic drugs like India and Pakistan are major operators when it comes to the internet," he said.

A how-to guide

Speaking at the launch of the International Narcotics Control Board's (INCB) annual report, Danling said would-be drug dealers could also use the internet as a how-to guide.

"To manufacture amphetamine or methamphetamine you can get the list of ingredients on the internet and you can also buy the ingredients," he said.

The INCB report called on governments to crack down on the shipment of potentially deadly prescription medicines and warned that only a co-ordinated international effort could end online drug trafficking.

"(Online drug dealers) are flexible in that they can relocate if they are forced to do so by strengthened legislative and law enforcement efforts in a particular country," it said.

The INCB's 2001 report warned that chat rooms and the popularity of cyberspace among young people had put the world's youth directly in the sights of online drug dealers.

This year's survey found that soaring opium cultivation in Afghanistan and surging methamphetamine production are the major drug problems facing Asia, posing social problems as well as helping fund terrorism.

--SA 2003-03-03