Assistant Secretary William R. Brownfield of Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs today reported that most of the illicit drug product consumed in the United States of America comes from Latin America.
“Whether cocaine, which comes from, principally comes from the three Latin American nations Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Most of the heroin that is in the United States’ market tends to come up from Mexico and to a small extent elsewhere in Central America.” -Mr. Brownfield
Mr. Brownfield also noted that the US-led eradication campaigns in Afghanistan have produced substantial reductions in opium poppy cultivation in the two largest producing provinces in Afghanistan: Helmand Province and Kandahar Province.
He said in both provinces the overall cultivation has dropped by an estimated 50%. He suggested to those who say that the United States is not serious about eradication need to look at those figures.
Mr. Brownfield reiterated President Obama’s statement that the U.S. objectives in Afghanistan, for which the United States have dedicated a vast amount of blood, lives and treasure, hundreds of billions of dollars, are a democratic society, a secure and stable country, and an economically prosperous country.
“We cannot expect any of those objectives to be accomplished so long as Afghanistan is the world’s leading producer of heroin and opium. So, it is obviously in our national interest as well to address the drug threat from Afghanistan. Perhaps, we have different reasons for our commitment to the task, but our objective is exactly the same. The Russian Federation’s objectives and the U.S. Government’s objectives are exactly the same on drugs in Afghanistan.” -Mr. Brownfield
Talking about Russia’s cabapabilites to fight drug trafficking, Mr. Brownfield stressed that it is a challenge for the Russian Federation to figure the best mechanisms to account for the diminished border controls between the Russian Federation and several Central Asian countries to control the flow of narcotics from Afghanistan to the Russian Federation.
Afghanistan is the greatest opium producer in the entire world. It is dubbed as the main producer of opium in “Golden Crescent.”
