Prices for opium and heroin have exploded – Diepresse.com
The prices for opium have increased tenfold on the black market, according to the new Afghanistan report of the UN office for drug and crime control.
With their takeover in August 2021, the radical Islamic Taliban banned opium production, until then the country was considered the world's largest producer of opium and thus as a place of origin for the heroin that was also available in Europe. The ban on the Taliban has a massive impact on opium prices, as the new UN drug report on the situation in Afghanistan. If a kilo before the ban was traded by $ 75 on the black market, the prices gradually increased: Today, 750 US dollars are required for the kilo.
The same applies to heroin prices. Before the Taliban rule, the kilogram was sold by an average of $ 2,200, in the first half of 2024 it was already $ 6,000. The study authors note that the ban also produces and traded less opium in Afghanistan. First, there are too much fewer raids, secondly, the confiscated amount was on average by half less than before the Taliban rule.
Drug mafia still makes enormous profits
These developments can also be moored in neighboring Iran. According to the Tehran authorities, the prices for raw opium rose from $ 2900 per kilo to $ 7,000. Heroin, on the other hand, has exploded from $ 13,000 per kilo to $ 77,000. Pakistan reports similar things.
Despite the lower amounts on the world market, the drug mafia makes enormous profits due to the high prices. « The increase in opium prices as well as the still substantial stocks ensure that illegal drug trafficking in Afghanistan remains a profitable business, » says Ghada Waly, director of the UN office for drug and crime control (UNODC). Transnational criminal networks would not only destabilize Afghanistan, but the entire region. The farmers who have previously grown opium needed a sustainable alternative. Because the high opium prices could encourage many farmers to resume cultivation.
The study authors also point out that only 30 percent of opium supplies in Afghanistan are kept by smaller farmers; The rest had wholesalers. Until the Taliban power was taken over, drug production or drug trafficking determined part of the economy. At that time, the value of the supplies was estimated at five to six billion US dollars-almost a third of the gross domestic product in 2023.
The UN report also determines what the international addiction control council (IncB) recently published: Less opium and heroin also mean that the drug market turns alternatives and thus synthetic addiction-such as fentanyl or other synthetic opioids. (Red.)
