Conditions of illegal drug trade in the world? Do you know...

World Drug Report 2000 The illegal drug trade touches millions of lives in both developed and developing countries. Its most negative impact is concentrated amongst the most disadvantaged of our societies. The UN estimates that some 180 million people worldwide — 4.2 per cent of people aged 15 years and above — were consuming drugs in the late 1990s.

World Drug Report 2000 Economic reliance on the drug trade, and drug addiction, leaves many individuals open to exploitation by criminals and criminal organizations, and threatens the health of men, women and children, the rule of law, and ultimately, the vitality and strength of all our communities. However, for the first time in recent history, global production of drugs such as heroin and cocaine is no longer growing, but shows signs of stabilization and even decline. This makes combined efforts an increasingly viable option to achieve the targets set out in the 1998 UN Special Session which aim at a substantial reduction if not elimination of drug production by the year Progress is also being reported from the demand side, where there are signs of stabilization or even decline in some of the main markets.

A Poem: The Monument Let’s learn...

Written by Detective S. D. Meska, Sheriff’s Anti- Crime/Narcotics Unit in North Carolina after learning of the death of a fellow friend and police officer. The Monument

There’s a memorial in Washington with names engraved in stone, and I stood there not so long ago, my thoughts and I alone. There’s the name of a City Policeman, there’s a Deputy and a Fed. It reads like a mournful metronome, this monument to our dead. And as I stood there reading, with roses for the brave, I heard a spectral voice ring out as if from beyond the grave. The Monument

“We are the dead of Law Enforcement,” the spirit voice began, “And I think we have the right to ask some questions, man to man.” “Have you learned anything at all, from the way we passed away?” “Is there something there that just might help, you survive another day?” “Does a flag draped coffin in America, now mean anything at all?” “I wonder how my family felt, when they got that late night call.” The Monument

“And when they took us to the grave yard, ranks of blue, did you start to realize, the next one might be you?” “There’re lessons here that might save you, if only you will heed.” “But I wonder if a dead cop’s mother, ever is in need.” The Monument

“And the children we left behind, so lost, alone, and small.” “Can they replace their Parent, with a photo on the wall?” “We’re buried, now, and so long gone, And all the tears have dried.” “And we probably died in vain, but learn from how we died.” The Monument