Angola is not a country that suffers from significant drug production or drug abuse; however, some cannabis is cultivated and consumed locally. Previously significant transit drug traffic—particularly, cocaine from Brazil to South Africa—is believed to have been largely halted in 2004 because of effective cooperation between Angolan and South African authorities. Angola is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. It signed and ratified the Southern African Development Community (SADC) counternarcotics protocol in 2003.

Angola is not a major center of drug production, money laundering, or production of precursor chemicals, and is not likely to become one. Police continued to seize cocaine and cannabis in 2004, although the volume of seizures diminished as transit traffic was more effectively interdicted, and traffickers apparently altered their routes.

Although cases of public corruption connected to narcotics trafficking are rare, one of three counternarcotics officials suspected in the disappearance of cocaine seized in an earlier operation and under arrest in 2003 was convicted in 2004; two other officials arrested in the same case were acquitted.

In 2004, Angola enacted legislation mandating treatment for those convicted of narcotics abuse. Drug rehabilitation centers have been established in Luanda, Lubango, and Benguela. Angola cooperates with South Africa in fighting the flow of cocaine from Angola to South Africa, and South Africa has provided training and equipment to the Angolan police. Angola also cooperates on a regional basis via the South African Development Community (SADC).

Agreement and Treaties. Angola is not a party to any of the UN Drug Conventions. It has signed but has not yet ratified the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention Against Corruption.

Bilateral Cooperation. In 2004, 17 Angolan police officers participated in State Department-sponsored regional training course, which included segments on counternarcotics.

The Road Ahead. The U.S. will assist Angola through training of law enforcement at ILEA Gaborone to the degree Angola wishes.

Benin

Though the Government of Benin (GOB) continues to take steps to implement and improve a national drug strategy, it has made only limited progress against illegal drug trafficking. Benin remains a low volume narcotics-producing country. Essentially, only marijuana sold for local consumption is produced in Benin. Nevertheless, Benin remains a transit point for illegal narcotics. Illegal drug trafficking and GOB drug seizures increased only slightly throughout the year. The GOB has developed a national counternarcotics policy and is implementing its national action plan. All narcotics trafficking interdiction efforts are handled through the police narcotics branch, central office, which is relatively well organized, but severely under staffed. Real progress is further hindered by inadequate resources, corruption, lack of training and poor equipment. Benin is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Benin produces no significant amounts of drugs, but plays a significant role as a transit point for regional traffickers. Small amounts of cannabis are grown for local consumption, but notable increases in production or consumption have not been reported. Benin’s porous borders and poorly monitored ports provide African drug traffickers, particularly Nigerians, easy access and transit.

Policy Initiatives. No significant new policies were introduced in 2004, however, the GOB continues to work to address lack of equipment, training and staffing needs. Instead of introducing new policies, the GOB appears to be focusing on refining existing ones. The GOB also appears to be fully supportive of the investigative efforts made by Police Narcotics Branch, Central Office during 2004.

Accomplishments. The GOB continues to address the ten counternarcotics strategies they identified in their Six Year Plan in 2001. The GOB remains focused on implementing and achieving the goals of the strategies.

Law Enforcement Efforts. The Central Office against Illegal Drug Trafficking (Police Narcotics Branch, Central Office) remains the lead law enforcement agency responsible for the fight against drugs. The Police Narcotics Branch, Central Office is subordinate to the Director General of the National Police, and works directly with Customs, Gendarmes and National Police drug units. Inadequate training, equipment, and human resources continue to hinder Police Narcotics Branch, Central Office’s progress in 2004. However, working from information provided by DEA Lagos, Police Narcotics Branch, Central Office Agents made two notable seizures of cocaine in early 2004.

Agreements and Treaties. Benin is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1961 UN Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol. Benin also is a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its three protocols.

Corruption. Rumors of corruption, bribery, tampering with evidence and poorly conducted criminal investigations continued to plague law enforcement agencies in 2004. This remains a difficult area to assess, however, due in part to the GOBS resistance to oversight reform.

Cultivation and Production. Cannabis is the only narcotics cultivated or produced in any significant quantity in Benin. No figures for the exact extent of production are available. Cannabis grown in Benin is used for local consumption.

The Road Ahead. Benin continues to address the drug transit problem in the region by implementing coordinated counternarcotics measures. Though this remains a very long and difficult process, the USG should continue to engage Benin on complex issues of counternarcotics enforcement, asset forfeiture, and money laundering. Inadequate border and port control measures, and staffing, equipment, and training needs of the Police Narcotics Branch remain the GOB’s most obvious impediment to progress in this area. Better training and increased law enforcement resources offer the best prospects for resolution of these problems.

Egypt

The Arab Republic of Egypt is not a major producer, supplier, or consumer of narcotics or precursor chemicals. Heroin and cannabis are transported through Egypt, but presumed levels have not risen in four years. The Anti-Narcotics General Administration (ANGA) is the main counternarcotics organization in Egypt. It is competent and progressive, and cooperates fully with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in Cairo. In 2004, a joint DEA-ANGA investigation uncovered a significant MDMA (Ecstasy) laboratory in Alexandria, Egypt, resulting in the arrest of four individuals, and possible indictment of two U.S. citizens. This was the first known occurrence of an MDMA laboratory in the Middle East. Egypt is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Egypt is not a significant producer or consumer of narcotics or precursor chemicals, despite the fact that opium and cannabis plants are grown here. The substances that are most commonly abused are cannabis, which is known here as "bango," and legitimate pharmaceuticals. Narcotics do pass through Egypt. Egypt’s long and mostly uninhabited borders, combined with the high level of shipping passing through the Suez Canal, have made Egypt prone to the transshipment of Asian heroin. Other types of narcotics periodically pass through Cairo International Airport. The narcotics are primarily destined for Western Europe, with only small amounts headed to the United States. Transshipment has diminished considerably in recent years due to the elevation of security in Egypt and the region as a whole.

The ANGA is the oldest counternarcotics unit in the Arab world. It has jurisdiction over all criminal matters pertaining to narcotics and maintains offices in all major Egyptian cities and ports of entry. The U.S. DEA office in Egypt has a superb relationship with ANGA, which is open, cooperative, and receptive to ideas and training. DEA assists ANGA in interdiction operations in the Suez Canal Zone and at Cairo International Airport, and crop eradication operations in the Sinai Peninsula and Upper Egypt. It also has funded and conducted training for ANGA officers at regional counternarcotics courses in Nairobi, Kenya and provided in-country training on airport interdiction and chemical controls. Despite limited resources, ANGA has demonstrated continual improvements in its capabilities.

The Government of Egypt (GOE) continues to aggressively pursue a comprehensive drug control strategy that was developed in 1998. ANGA, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior, the Coast Guard, the Customs Service, and select military units all cooperate in task forces designed to interdict narcotics shipments. Government and private sector demand reduction efforts exist but are hampered by financial constraints and logistical challenges.

Accomplishments. Late in 2004, a joint DEA-ANGA investigation uncovered an MDMA laboratory located in a small apartment building in Alexandria, Egypt. ANGA raided the laboratory, arresting four individuals and seizing chemicals, paste, and equipment. Additionally, Egypt may indict two U.S. citizens for connections to this operation. The MDMA produced from this laboratory would likely have been exported to the European and U.S. market. This was the first known discovery of an MDMA laboratory in Egypt, and according to DEA, the first in the Middle East, and may represent a new trend toward shifting artificial drug labs to the region due to the region’s relatively lax regulation of commercial chemical products. With the passage of the first anti-money laundering law in 2002, which criminalized the laundering of proceeds derived from trafficking in narcotics and numerous other crimes, seizures of currency in drug related cases has amounted to over 3,000,000 Egyptian Pounds ($485,000). In 2004, ANGA opened a new office dedicated to financial investigations and combating money laundering.

Law Enforcement Efforts. Internal security and combating terrorism are the major foci of Egyptian law enforcement efforts. Despite these priorities, ANGA is able to operate an effective program against narcotics trafficking. It investigates and targets significant drug traffickers, intercepts narcotics shipments, and detects and eradicates illegal crops. Large-scale seizures and arrests are rare, primarily because Egypt does not have a significant narcotics market or narcotics abuse culture. ANGA does operate its own drug awareness campaign in addition to other government and private sector demand reduction programs. ANGA’s Eradication Unit conducts monthly operations against cannabis and opium crops in the Sinai. Continuing a trend over the past several years, the amount of narcotics seized during 2004 was again higher than that of the previous year. Drug seizures in 2004 included cannabis (80,249 kilograms), hashish (1,868 kilograms), and smaller amounts of heroin, opium, psychotropic drugs, and cocaine. Significant amounts of prescription and "designer" drugs such as Ecstasy (6,194 tablets), amphetamines, and codeine were also seized. During the course of 2004, Egyptian law enforcement officials eradicated 171 hectares of cannabis and 65 hectares opium poppy plants.

Corruption. As a matter of government policy, the Government of Egypt does not encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal transactions The GOE has strict laws and harsh penalties for government officials convicted of involvement in narcotics trafficking or related activities. However, low-level local police officials involved in narcotics-related activity or corruption have been identified and arrested.

Agreements and Treaties. Egypt and the United States have had an extradition treaty in place since the 1860’s. Egypt has been a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention since 1991. Egypt also is a party to the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and the 1972 protocol amending the Single Convention. The U.S.-Egypt Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty entered into force on November 29, 2001. Egypt is a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its protocol on trafficking in women and children.

Cultivation and Production. Cannabis is grown year round in the northern and southern Sinai and in Upper Egypt, while opium poppy is grown in the southern Sinai only from November through March. Rugged terrain means that plots of illegal crops are small and irregularly shaped. ANGA combats this production by using aerial observation and confidential informants to identify illegal plots. Once the crops are located, ANGA conducts daylight eradication operations that consist of cutting and burning the plants. ANGA has yet to implement a planned herbicide eradication program. No heroin processing laboratories have been discovered in Egypt in the last 14 years and no evidence is available indicating that opiates or cannabis grown in Egypt reach the United States in sufficient quantities to have a significant impact. In 2004, a joint DEA-ANGA operation uncovered the first ever MDMA laboratory in Egypt and eliminated it before it reached significant production.

Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). In 2004, the National Council for Combating and Treating Addiction continued to be the GOE’s focal point for domestic demand reduction programs. The Council is an inter-ministerial group chaired by the Prime Minister and has the participation of ten ministries. The group espouses a three-pronged strategy to counter the demand for narcotics: awareness, treatment (including detoxification and social/psychological treatment), and rehabilitation. The group’s efforts over the past year included a range of activities, for example, a media advertising campaign with participation from First Lady Suzanne Mubarak, seminars at Al-Azhar University on "Islam and Narcotics," and the establishment of a drug treatment hotline and website. Additionally, the Council sponsors four rehabilitation centers, mostly located in the Cairo metropolitan area. These centers annually receive thousands of requests from addicts for help.

The U.S. counternarcotics policy in Egypt is to engage the GOE in a bilateral program to reduce narcotics transshipments and decrease opium poppy and cannabis cultivation. The policy includes the following specific objectives: increase training to ANGA and other government offices responsible for narcotics enforcement; assist with the identification of illegal crop eradication targets; improve narcotics interdiction methodology; improve intelligence collection and analysis.

The Road Ahead. In fiscal year 2005, the U.S. Government plans to increase its joint operations with ANGA, moving beyond a previously predominant focus on monitoring the problem. This will involve the DEA country office continuing to work closely with ANGA on joint investigations, as well as improving interdiction and eradication techniques and developing additional sources of information on trafficking and production. The U.S. Government also plans to provide additional training in financial investigations, drug interdiction, anticorruption measures, border control operations, and chemical identification and control.

Ghana

Ghana has taken steps to combat illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and has mounted major efforts against drug abuse. It has active enforcement, treatment, and rehabilitation programs; however, lack of resources remains a problem. Ghana-U.S. law enforcement coordination continued in 2004, and Ghana’s law enforcement agencies took steps to deepen interagency coordination. Ghana is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Ghana is increasingly a transit point for illegal drugs, particularly cocaine from South America and heroin from Southeast and Southwest Asia. Europe remains the major destination, but drugs also flow to South Africa and to North America. Accra’s Kotoka International Airport is increasingly a focus for traffickers. Ports at Tema and Sekondi are also used, and border posts at Aflao (Togo) and Elubo and Sampa (Cote d’Ivoire) see significant drug trafficking activity. Nigerian traffickers continue to strengthen their presence in Ghana, as Ghana becomes a major transportation hub for them. Trafficking has also fueled increasing domestic drug consumption. Cannabis use is increasing in Ghana, as is local cultivation. The government has mounted significant public education programs, as well as cannabis crop substitution programs. Production of precursor chemicals is not a major problem.

Policy Initiatives. The Narcotics Control Board (NCB) coordinates government efforts involving counternarcotics activities. These activities include enforcement and control, education, prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, and social reintegration. The NCB’s counternarcotics national strategy, the "National Plan of Action 1999/2008", was never implemented due to lack of funding. However, in 2004 the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) financed three demand reduction projects selected from the National Plan of Action: 1) training 110 Ghana Education Service counselors (one per district in the country) on drug abuse prevention; 2) working with the Department of Social Welfare to provide vocational training to those completing drug treatment programs; and 3) producing a drug education guide for teachers throughout the country. Each year since 1999, the NCB has proposed to amend the 1990 narcotics law to allow stricter application of bail bond system (i.e., no general granting of bail when flight is a real possibility; higher sureties to assure that defendants appear for trial) and to fund NCB operations using a portion of seized proceeds, but the Attorney General’s office has not acted on these proposals.

Accomplishments. Figures from January-September 2004 reveal that quantities of cocaine, heroin and cannabis seized in Ghana increased in 2004. The number of persons arrested for possession of heroin and cocaine has also increased in this period, while the number of people arrested with cannabis decreased. Overall, 2004 saw the highest number of drug trafficking arrests on record. The NCB and other law enforcement agencies continued their successful cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies in 2004, sharing information, as well as preparing to extradite an American citizen and a Ghanaian citizen to be tried in the United States for narcotics offenses. In January, the Narcotics Control Board and the Ghana Police Service Drug Enforcement Unit, aided by British intelligence, intercepted 588.33 kilograms of cocaine in Tema, Ghana’s major port city about 20k from the capital city. The bust was West Africa’s largest ever drug bust. All six suspects, five of whom were foreign nationals, were convicted in October and sentenced to significant jail time at hard labor.

The NCB’s national drug education efforts continued in schools and churches, heightening citizens’ awareness of the fight against narcotics and traffickers. On June 27, the NCB organized an event in Kumasi to highlight drug abuse in Ghana in conjunction with the UN’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking. At this launch, the UNODC announced that it would assist Ghana in establishing rehabilitation centers for drug addicts, and a pilot project in Accra has since been launched.

In October and November 2004, using Department of State funding, U.S. Department of Justice trainers (ICITAP) conducted a four-week counternarcotics training course in Ghana for thirty officers from the Ghana Narcotics Control Board, Ghana Police Service, Ghana Immigration Service, the Customs and Excise Protective Service, and the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. The train-the-trainer program, conducted in two 2-week sessions, focused mainly on drug interdiction at air and seaports and was declared highly successful and received widespread press coverage.

Law Enforcement Efforts. In 2004, Ghanaian law enforcement agencies continued to conduct joint police/NCB operations against narcotics cultivators, traffickers, and abusers. NCB agents, who are not armed, rely upon the police’s Criminal Investigative Division’s (CID) narcotics unit in situations requiring armed force. The successful drug operation in January (see above) was an example of such a joint cooperative effort. The NCB continued to work with DHL, UPS, and Federal Express to intercept packages containing narcotics.

The NCB reported a drop in the prices of, heroin and cannabis from 2003, while the price of cocaine rose. In 2004, a gram of cocaine sold for cedis 168,350 ($18.50 at the current exchange rate) compared to cedis 133,350 ($15.30) in 2003. A cocaine booster sold for cedis 12,000 ($1.32), while crack cocaine sold for cedis 5,000 ($.55). A gram of heroin sold for cedis 145,600 ($16) compared to 173,550 ($20) in 2003. A heroin booster sold for cedis 10,000 ($1.10). The price of a small parcel of cannabis in 2004 was approximately cedis 5,000 ($.55), while a wrapper or joint sold for cedis 1,000 ($.11). There was a sudden increase in the prices of all narcotics after the January operation (see above), but the prices dropped again soon afterward.

Corruption. Despite the regular arrests of suspected narcotics traffickers, Ghana has an extremely low rate of conviction, which law enforcement officials indicate is likely due to corruption within the judicial system. As an example, from one region of the country, Ashanti, between 2001 and June 2004, of the 667 cases of drug dealers and traffickers reported, only 244 persons had been convicted and sentenced. The backlog of cases pending trial and the limited resources facing the judiciary remain a problem in controlling drug trafficking in Ghana. The total number of arrests made countrywide between January and September 2004 was 705. The NCB estimates that the Ashanti Region prosecution statistics are better than the national average.

NCB officials complain that courts often release suspected smugglers, including foreign nationals, on bail that is often set at only a tiny fraction of the value of the drugs found in a suspect’s possession. The court requirement of a surety in addition to bail is often either dropped, or court registrars will fraudulently use the identical property as surety for multiple cases. In September, the NCB was held in contempt of court for withholding the passports of suspects charged with drug trafficking who had been released on bail. The NCB retained the passports while they waited for the Attorney General to file a request not to permit bail, which was ultimately never filed. The NCB eventually had to turn over the passports on a court order. At least one of the suspects in this case, a Dutch national, has since traveled in and out of Ghana while on bail. In contrast to 2003, in 2004 there were no cases of possible evidence tampering. In August 2004, four police officers were arraigned and charged with taking bribes from drug traffickers in October 2001. No further action was taken on these cases in 2004.

Agreements and Treaties. Ghana is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol. U.S.-Ghana extradition relations are governed by the 1931 U.S.-U.K. Extradition Treaty. Additionally, Ghana is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Protocol Agreement, which includes an extradition provision among member states. In 2003, Ghana signed a bilateral Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement with the United States.

Cultivation and Production. Cannabis (also known as Indian hemp) is widely cultivated in rural farmlands. The Volta, Brong/Ahafo, Western, and Ashanti regions are principal growing areas. Most is consumed locally; some is trafficked to neighboring and European countries. Cannabis is usually harvested in September and October, and law enforcement teams increase their surveillance and investigation efforts at these times. In 2004, combined NCB and police teams continued to investigate cannabis production and distribution, and to destroy cultivated cannabis farms and plants.

In February 2003, the NCB implemented a pilot program designed to reduce the area under cultivation, under which 140 marijuana cultivators volunteered to give up marijuana in exchange for government assistance with planting and processing new food crops and immunity from prosecution. The NCB plans to expand the program to an additional 120 farmers that have registered for assistance, although the resources were not available to do so in 2004.

Drug Flow/Transit. Cocaine and heroin are the main drugs that transit Ghana. Cocaine is sourced mainly from South America and destined for Europe, while heroin comes mainly from Southeast and Southwest Asia on its way to Europe and North America. Cannabis is shipped primarily to Europe, specifically to the United Kingdom. Narcotics are sometimes repackaged in Ghana for reshipment, and the most recent trend in concealment method is in carry-on, wheeled luggage.

Although there is no hard evidence that drugs transiting Ghana contribute significantly to the supply of drugs to the U.S. market, there are indications that direct shipments to the United States are on the rise. Accra is an increasingly important transshipment point from Africa. In November, two alleged leaders of a drug smuggling ring from Ghana were indicted in Columbus, Ohio for shipping heroin for distribution across central Ohio, indicating a direct flow of illicit narcotics from Ghana into the U.S. Midwest. Direct flights from Accra play an important role in the transshipment of heroin to the U.S. by West African trafficking organizations. Because of safety problems, the U.S. FAA imposed a ban in July 2004 on flights into the U.S. by Ghana’s flag carrier, the only provider of direct flights from Ghana to the United States. However, according to the NCB, this did not reduce the drug trafficking from Ghana to the U.S., but rerouted the flow through Europe. The NCB reports that narcotics air transit through Ghana has reduced somewhat in favor of land routes to Abidjan, largely due to the instability in Cote d’Ivoire, which creates more favorable conditions there for narcotics traffickers. The biggest challenge in Ghana, however, are the seaports, as most of the coastal border is unmonitored and entry points are more porous. According to the NCB, the seaports allow greater quantities of narcotics to come through at places where there are weak patrol systems in place.

Domestic Programs. The NCB works with schools, professional training institutions, churches, local governments, and the general public to reduce local drug consumption. The Ministries of Health and Education further coordinate their efforts through their representatives on the Board. Board Members and staff frequently host public lectures, participate in radio discussion programs, and encourage newspaper articles on the dangers of drug abuse and trafficking. Ghana’s National Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking was celebrated on June 27, in Kumasi, Ashanti Region. Although treatment programs have lagged behind preventative education and enforcement due to lack of funding, there are three government psychiatric hospitals receiving drug patients, and three private facilities in Accra, run by local NGOs, also assisting drug abusers.

U.S. Goals and Objectives. The USG’s counternarcotics and anticrime goals in Ghana are to strengthen Ghanaian law enforcement capacity generally, to improve interdiction capacities, to enhance the NCB’s office and field operation functions, and to reduce Ghana’s role as a transit point for narcotics.

Bilateral Cooperation. In 2002, the United States provided the Government of Ghana counternarcotics assistance in the form of surveillance and detection equipment, worth $64,000, including two narcotics detection devices ("Itemizers") installed at Kotoka International Airport in December 2003. Similar equipment funded in FY 2000 and FY 2001 is effectively maintained and has facilitated a number of drug arrests and seizures. Funding provided in FY 2002 for training for the Police and CEPS to create Internal Affairs Units will continue to assist in suppressing corruption and strengthening the capacity of the police to interdict illegal drugs. A four-week, interagency counternarcotics training course, funded by the U.S. in FY 2002 and focused on drug interdiction at Ghana’s air and seaports, took place in November 2004.

The Road Ahead. Improved narcotics interdiction, investigative capabilities, and prosecutorial successes sum up the USG’s major policy goals. A focus on improved oversight of financial transactions is a particular concern, given the potential for any narcotics financial networks to be used by terrorist organizations.

Jordan

Jordan is primarily a transit country for illicit drugs, due to its geographical location between drug producing countries to the north and drug consuming countries to the south and west. Historically, Jordanians themselves have neither consumed nor produced significant quantities of illicit drugs. There have been signs that this trend may be changing. The most notable narcotics-related statistic for 2004 is a nearly 400 percent increase in Captagon (fenethylline) tablet seizures, the bulk of which Jordanian authorities say were bound for the Gulf States. The drugs of choice among users arrested for drug possession in Jordan have been hashish (80 percent) and heroin (20 percent); The main target group is high school through college-aged students. Cooperation among neighboring countries is ongoing and growing. Jordan is a party to the 1998 UN Drug Convention.

Jordan’s vast desert borders make it vulnerable to illicit drug smuggling operations. From the perspective of drug use, Jordanian authorities believe that drug consumption among Jordan’s youth is not likely to increase sharply.

Policy Initiatives. Due to the threat from continuing usage of hashish and heroin among high school and university-aged individuals, Jordan continues its drug awareness campaign focused at educating young people of the dangers of drug use. In June 2004, a national conference on drugs took place in Amman, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), during which issues such as combating drugs, prevention of drug abuse among students, and law enforcement were discussed.

Law Enforcement. Jordan’s Police (PSD) maintains an active counternarcotics bureau, which has excellent relations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration through the Nicosia Country Office based in Cyprus. In 2004 the PSD began utilizing x-ray equipment on larger vehicles at two of its border crossings, which has led to some drug seizures. The PSD stated that since 1997, it has worked cooperatively with the military on the Syrian and Iraqi borders to intercept traffickers entering through those areas. Jordan continues to be concerned about heroin use in the more affluent areas of country, as statistics reflect yet another annual increase in heroin seizures. Although seizures of the synthetic amphetamine-type stimulant Captagon are up by nearly 400 percent, the PSD has not noted a significant abuse problem in Jordan. Drugs of this nature are predominantly bound for the Gulf Region. According to the PSD, 85 percent of all illicit drugs entering Jordan are destined for other countries in the region. The majority of Jordan’s drug seizures take place at the Jabber-a border crossing point between Jordan and Syria.

Corruption. Jordanian Officials report no narcotics-related corruption or investigations into corruption for the reporting period. There is currently no evidence to suggest that senior level officials are involved in narcotics trafficking.

Agreements and Treaties. Jordan is party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. Jordan continues to remain committed to existing bilateral agreements providing for counternarcotics cooperation between Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, and Hungary. Jordan has signed but has not yet ratified the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Cultivation and Production. Existing laws prohibit the cultivation and production of narcotics in Jordan. These laws have been effectively enforced.

Drug Flow and Transit. Jordan remains primarily a narcotics transit country. Jordan’s primary challenge in stemming the flow of illicit drugs through the country remains its vast and open desert borders. While law enforcement efforts confirm cooperation with its neighbors, the desolate border regions and the various tribes, with a centuries old tradition of smuggling as a principle source of income, make interdiction difficult. None of the narcotics transiting Jordan is believed to be destined for the United States. Jordan has seen only four drug-related cases involving its border with Iraq in 2004.

Domestic Programs. Jordan maintains a robust program of awareness and education, interdiction, and rehabilitation. Education programs predominantly target high school and college-aged kids. Authorities continue to provide educational presentations in schools and universities throughout the country. Jordan also publishes a number of brochures and other materials aimed at educating Jordan’s youth. Cartoons aimed at younger children designed to dissuade youngsters from trying drugs are also in the developmental stages, with an expected release timeframe of 2005. Jordan has also improved its rehabilitation programs. With United Nations’ assistance, Jordan is modernizing its drug treatment centers and private hospitals. Cultural and religious norms help to control drug use. The PSD works in conjunction with the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, which directs sermons, lessons, and lectures on drug awareness and their effects.

Policy Initiatives. In March 2004, DEA Nicosia and DEA’s International Training Section sponsored a regional International Drug Enforcement Seminar in Amman. The DEA also plans to sponsor a one-week Asset Forfeiture and Financial Investigations Seminar in Amman during the month of July 2005.

Bilateral Cooperation. DEA Country Attache in Cyprus and Embassy Amman officials maintain a close working relationship with Jordanian authorities on narcotics related matters.

The Road Ahead. U.S. Officials expect continued cooperation with Jordanian officials in counternarcotics related issues.

Iran

The Islamic Republic of Iran is a major transit route for opiates smuggled from Afghanistan and through Pakistan to the Persian Gulf, Turkey, Russia, and Europe. There is no evidence that narcotics transiting Iran reach the United States in an amount sufficient to have a significant effect. Iran is no longer a major drug producing country. Trafficking routes for opiates from Afghanistan to Russia and beyond, by way of Central Asia, have grown in importance, but the largest single share of opiates leaving Afghanistan still passes through Iran to consumers in Russia and Europe. There are also an estimated 2 million opiate abusers in Iran, with 60 percent reported as addicted to various opiates and 40 percent reported as casual users.

There is overwhelming evidence of Iran’s strong commitment to keep drugs leaving Afghanistan from reaching its citizens. As Iran strives to achieve this goal, it also prevents drugs from reaching markets in the West. Three thousand two hundred Iranian law enforcement personnel have died in clashes with heavily armed drug traffickers over the last two decades, and Iran reports that another 25 died in the first half of 2004. Iran spends a significant amount on drug-related expenses, including interdiction efforts and treatment/prevention education. Estimates range from $250-$300 million to as much as $800 million each year, depending on whether treatment and other social costs are included. Traffickers from Afghanistan continue to cause major disruption along Iran’s eastern border, but Iranian security forces seem to be having increased success by concentrating their interdiction efforts in the eastern provinces.

Iran has ratified the 1988 UN Drug Convention, but its laws do not bring it completely into compliance with the Convention. The United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) is working with Iran to modify its laws, train the judiciary, and improve the court system.

Iran is a transit country and a major consumer country of opiates and hashish. Entering from Afghanistan and Pakistan into eastern Iran, heroin, opium, and morphine are smuggled overland, usually to Turkey. Another route to Europe and Turkey passes by way of Turkmenistan, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Drugs are also smuggled by sea across the Persian Gulf. Iran is also a major opiate consuming country, with the highest share of population abusing opiates in the world. The UNODC estimates that 2.8 percent of the Iranian population over age 15 used opiates in 2001 (latest data available).

Policy Initiatives. Iran is spending at least 50 percent of its budgeted counter drug expenditures on demand reduction activities, a significant shift from recent expenditure patterns where most funds went for enforcement-related supply reduction. The shift seems to be a clear response to the growing social and health impact of more dangerous drug abuse (e.g., heroin vice opium) and the trend towards more intravenous heroin abuse, with certain addict populations sharing needles. Police forces engaged in narcotics suppression activities have begun to complain publicly that their budgets are inadequate for their interdiction responsibilities.

Law Enforcement Efforts. The Drug Control Headquarters coordinates the drug-related activities of the police, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the Ministries of Intelligence and Security, Health, and Islamic Guidance and Education.

Iran pursues an aggressive border interdiction effort. A senior Iranian official told the UNODC that Iran had invested as much as $800 million in a system of mud walls, moats, concrete dams, sentry points, and observation towers, as well as a road along its entire eastern border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. According to an official GOI Internet site, Iran has installed 212 border posts, 205 observation posts, 22 concrete barriers, 290 km of canals (depth-4m, width-5m), 659 km of soil embankments, a 78 km barbed wire fence, and 2645 km of asphalt and gravel roads. It also has relocated numerous border villages to newly constructed sites, so that their inhabitants are less subject to harassment by narcotics traffickers.

Thirty thousand law enforcement personnel are regularly deployed along Iran’s border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Interdiction efforts by the police and the Revolutionary Guards have resulted in numerous drug seizures. Iranian officials seized 181 metric tons (MT) of opiates (opium equivalent) just during the first six months of 2004. Opiate seizures in 2004 (projected) were on track to exceed those in 2003 by 48 percent. These increases are likely to continue as Afghanistan’s largest opium harvest ever moves towards markets in Iran itself, and in the West. Iran is likely to remain the country with the highest volume of opiate seizures in the world.

Iranian opiate seizures in the first six months of 2004 display some interesting trends:

• Unrefined (raw) opium seizures increased sharply;

• Heroin was only 14 percent of all opiates seized, a surprisingly small share of the total;

• The morphine base share of seized drugs was also down from recent years to 39 percent of the total.

Hashish seizures in Iran in the first six months of 2004 were on track to exceed seizures registered last year by a wide margin. At slightly more than 49.5 metric tons, only raw, unrefined opium seizures at 85 metric tons exceed hashish seizures in volume.

Drug offenses are under the jurisdiction of the Revolutionary Courts. Punishment for narcotics offenses is severe, with death sentences possible for possession of more than 30 grams of heroin or five kilograms (kg) of opium. Those convicted of lesser offenses may be punished with imprisonment, fines, or lashings, although it is believed that lashings have been used less frequently in recent years. Offenders between the ages of 16 and 18 are afforded some leniency. More than 60 percent of the inmates in Iranian prisons are incarcerated for drug offenses, ranging from use to trafficking. Narcotics-related arrests in Iran during the first six months of 2004 continued a sharp upward trend, mounting to 196,555. Almost three times more drug abusers were detained than drug traffickers. Iran has executed more than 10,000 narcotics traffickers in the last decade.

Corruption. Although there is no indication that senior government officials aid or abet narcotics traffickers, there are reports of corruption among lower/mid-level law enforcement, which is consistent with the transit of multiple-ton drug shipments across Iran. Punishment of corruption is harsh, and the evidence of Iran’s commitment to keep drugs from its people is compelling. Iran points to its drug interdiction efforts as benefiting countries in Western Europe and beyond.

Agreements and Treaties. Iran is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention; however, its legislation does not bring it completely into compliance with the Convention, particularly in the areas of money laundering and controlled deliveries. The UNODC is working with Iran through the NOROUZ Program to modify its laws, train the judiciary, and improve the court system. Iran is also a party to the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substance, the 1961 UN Single Convention and the 1972 Protocol. Iran has signed, but has not yet ratified, the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime, and is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Corruption. Iran has shown an increasing desire to cooperate with the international community on counternarcotics matters. Iran is an active participant in the Paris Pact, a group of countries that actively seeks to coordinate efforts to counter opiate smuggling in Southwest Asia, and Iran is scheduled to host an expert round table of this group in 2005.

Cultivation/Production. A 1998 U.S. survey of opium poppy cultivation in Iran and a detailed U.S. multi-agency assessment concluded that the amount of poppy being grown in Iran was negligible. The survey studied more than 1.25 million acres in Iran’s traditional poppy-growing areas, and found no poppy crops growing there, although the survey could not rule out the possibility of some cultivation in remote areas. A follow-up survey in 1999 reached the same conclusion. Iran is now generally viewed as a transit country for drugs produced elsewhere, but there are some reports of opium refining near the Turkish/Iranian border. Most refining of the opiates moving through Iran is done elsewhere, either in Afghanistan or in Turkey.

Drug Flow/Transit. Shipments of opiates enter Iran overland from Pakistan and Afghanistan by camel, donkey, or truck caravans, often organized and protected by heavily armed ethnic Baloch tribesmen from either side of the frontier. Once inside Iran, large shipments are either concealed within ordinary commercial truck cargoes or broken down into smaller sub-shipments. The Iranian town of Zahedan is reportedly a center for the opiate trade as it first enters Iran, and then moves westward. Foreign embassy observers report that Iranian interdiction efforts have disrupted smuggling convoys sufficiently to force smugglers to change tactics and emphasize concealment more than they have in the past. The use of human "mules" is on the rise. Individuals and small groups also attempt to cross the border with two to ten kilograms of drugs, in many cases ingested for concealment. Trafficking through Iran’s airports also appears to be on the rise. Still, many traffickers move drugs in large armed convoys, and are ready for a fight if challenged.

Most of the opiates smuggled into Iran from Afghanistan are smuggled to neighboring countries for further processing and transportation to Europe. Turkey is the main processing destination for these opiates, most of which are bound for consumption in Russia and Europe. Essentially all of the morphine base, which represents almost 40 percent of all opiates seized in the first six months of 2004, in Iran, is likely moving towards Turkey, as is some share of the much diminished 14 percent, or so, of opiates moving as heroin. Significant quantities of raw opium are consumed in Iran itself, but some share also moves on to the west to be refined and consumed as heroin in Europe and elsewhere. There is a northern smuggling route through Iran’s Khorasan Province, to Turkmenistan, to Tehran, and then on to Turkey. The mountains, desert, sparse population along this route make it hard to police. Traffickers are frequently well armed and dangerous.

The southern route also passes through sparsely settled desert terrain on its way to Tehran en route to Turkey; some opiates moving along the southern route detour to Bandar Abbas and move by sea to the Persian Gulf states. Bandar Abbas also appears to be an entry point for precursor chemicals moving to refineries in Afghanistan. Iran does not specifically control precursor chemicals used for producing illicit drugs, but has made a number of important seizures, mostly at Bandar, of acetic anhydride, used in the refining of heroin. All precursor chemicals seized were consigned to Afghanistan. Trafficking through Iran is facilitated by wide spread smuggling to provide necessities, and to escape high taxation. There are reports that enforcement authorities accept bribes to pass shipments, and fail to enforce laws against street sales inside of Iran.

Azerbaijan and Armenia provide alternative routes to Russia and Europe that bypass Turkish interdiction efforts. Additionally, despite the risk of severe punishment, marine transport is used through the Persian Gulf to the nations of the Arabian Peninsula, taking advantage of modern transportation and communication facilities and a laissez-faire commercial attitude in that area. Hashish moves extensively along this route, as well. Oman and Dubai appear to be important destinations, but some Iranian hashish even finds its way to Iraq. Iranian enforcement officials have estimated that as much as 50 percent of the opium produced in Afghanistan in past years entered Iran, with as much as 700-800 metric tons of opium consumed in Iran itself by its ca. 2 million users.

Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). Smoked opium is the traditional drug of abuse in Iran, but opium is also drunk, dissolved in tea. Opium and its residue are also injected, dissolved in water, by a small number of addicts. Iranians have clearly been using more heroin during the past several years. Heroin has not replaced opium, the traditional drug of choice in Iran, but lower street prices for heroin, and temporary shortages of opium, after the Taliban successfully prohibited opium production in Afghanistan for one year (2000/01), plus higher prices for opium, have encouraged some addicts to switch from opium to heroin. Some heroin is smoked or sniffed, but a growing share is injected.

Ninety-three percent of opiate addicts are male, with a mean age of 33.6 years (plus or minus 10.5 years), and 1.4 percent (about 21,000) are HIV positive. In the past, the Islamic Republic attacked illegal alcohol use with more fervor than drug abuse, and was reluctant to discuss drug problems openly. Since 1995, public awareness campaigns and attention by two successive Iranian presidents as well as cabinet ministers and the Parliament have given demand reduction a significant boost. Under the UNODC’s NOROUZ narcotics assistance project, the GOI spent more than $68 million dollars in the first year for demand reduction and community awareness. The Prevention Department of Iran’s Social Welfare Association runs 12 treatment and rehabilitation centers, as well as 39 out-patient treatment programs in all major cities. Eighty-eight out-patient treatment centers are now operational. Some 30,000 people are treated per year, and some programs have three-month waiting lists. Narcotics Anonymous and other self-help programs can be found in almost all districts, as well, and several NGOs focus on drug demand reduction. There are no methadone treatment or HIV prevention programs, although HIV infection in the prison population is a serious concern.

Policy Initiatives. In the absence of direct diplomatic relations with Iran, the United States has no narcotics initiatives in Iran. The U.S. government continues to encourage regional cooperation against narcotics trafficking. Iran and the United States have expressed similar viewpoints on illicit drugs and the regional impact of the Afghan drug trade. In the context of multilateral settings such as the UN’s Paris Pact group, the United States and Iran have worked together productively. Iran nominated the United States to be coordinator of an earlier UN-sponsored coordination effort on narcotics called the "Six Plus Two" counternarcotics initiative.

The Road Ahead. The GOI has demonstrated sustained national political will and taken strong measures against illicit narcotics, including cooperation with the international community. Iran’s actions support the global effort against international drug trafficking. Iran stands to be one of the major benefactors of any long-term reduction in drug production/trafficking from Afghanistan, as it is one of the biggest victims of the short term increase in opium/heroin production there now. The United States anticipates that Iran will continue to pursue policies and actions in support of efforts to combat drug production and trafficking.

Israel

Israel is not a significant producer or trafficking point for drugs. The Israeli National Police (INP), however, reports that during the year 2004, the Israeli drug market continued to be characterized by high demand in nearly all sectors of society and a high availability of drugs including cannabis, Ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and LSD. The INP also reports a continuing high demand for Ecstasy in 2004, and a high level of seizure, especially compared with 2003. There was a comparable amount of marijuana seized, and a slight decrease in the amount of hashish seized. The INP reports that the amount of heroin seized remained relatively low as in previous years, although the level of demand is unchanged. The quantity of LSD seized in 2004 far exceeds past years, with the seizure of 55,438 blotters compared to 28,331 blotters in 2003. Widespread use of Ecstasy by Israeli youths is a continuing source of concern to authorities. There was a slight decrease from last year in the number of cases for drug use, trafficking, and possession not for personal use. The number of drug arrests for 2004 is not available. (Note: All data is for the period January through October.) In June 2002, Israel became a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention. Israel’s domestic law is consistent with this convention.

Israel is not a major producer of narcotics or precursor chemicals. Israeli narcotics traffickers operating outside of Israel continue to be deeply involved in the international Ecstasy trade. The Israeli National Police (INP) reports that during the year 2004, the Israeli drug market was characterized by a high demand in nearly all sectors of society and a high availability of drugs including cannabis, Ecstasy, cocaine, heroin and LSD. The INP estimates the annual scope of the Israeli market to be 100 tons of marijuana, 20 tons of hashish, 20 million tablets of Ecstasy, 4 tons of heroin, 3 tons of cocaine, and hundreds of thousands of LSD blotters. Officials are also concerned with the widespread use of Ecstasy and cannabis among Israeli youth, and say that drug use among youth mirrors trends in the West.

Policy Initiatives. In 2004, the INP continued its general policy of interdiction at Israel’s borders and points of entry because the biggest quantities of drugs cross into Israel from Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon. Together with the Israeli Anti-Drug Authority (IADA), the INP concentrated specifically on the Jordanian and Egyptian borders, where the majority of heroin, cocaine, and cannabis enter Israel. The INP and the IADA have jointly developed programs to help Israeli youth, and have identified and begun investigating six or seven major families involved in drug trade in Israel.

Law Enforcement Efforts. Israel is not a significant seller, transporter or financier of the drug trade but Israeli citizens abroad in locations such as Denmark, Holland, and Belgium serve as brokers and transporters of Ecstasy to the U.S. and elsewhere. INP reports a high demand for cocaine in Israel and a total of 28.5 kilograms seized in 2004, a figure less than half of that in 2003, and showing a decline for the last two years in a row. In 2004, 14,167 kilograms of marijuana was seized, about the same as in 2003. In 2004, 773 kilograms of hashish were seized, a quantity down slightly from last year, and a decline for two years in a row. The number of Ecstasy tablets seized in 2004 was 214,076, up almost three times the amount seized in 2003. The level of heroin seized in 2004 was 50 kilograms, comparable to 2003, with one seizure of 21 kilograms in December 2004. In 2004, 55,438 LSD blotters were seized in total, almost double the amount of blotters seized in 2003. There was a slight change from last year in the number of cases reported by the INP. In 2004, the INP reported 12,335 open cases for drug use, 2,561 for drug trafficking, and 6,007 for drug possession not for personal use. Israel destroyed 528 illicit labs in 2004, compared with none in 2003. The figures for drug arrests in 2004 are not available. In 2004, authorities seized $6.6 million in illegal drug related assets and cash.

Corruption. In April 2004, Israel arrested and indicted Gonan Segev, a former Energy Minister under Yitzhak Rabin, when he left a bag with 25,000 Ecstasy pills in a locker at the Amsterdam airport on his way back to Israel. As a matter of government policy, the Government of Israel does not encourage or facilitate illicit production or distribution of narcotic or psychotropic drugs or other controlled substances, or the laundering of proceeds from illegal transactions. Israel does not have specific legislation for public corruption related to narcotics.

Agreements and Treaties. Israel is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, and its 1972 Protocol. A customs mutual assistance agreement and a mutual legal assistance treaty are also in force between Israel and the U.S. In December 2000, Israel signed the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and is in the process of passing the necessary changes to Israeli law. Israel is a party to the European Convention on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters. Israel is one of 36 parties to the COE European Treaty on Extradition and has separate extradition treaties with several other countries, including the U.S. Under the Israeli extradition law, nationality is no longer a basis for denying extradition. However, if the requested person was both a citizen and resident of Israel at the time the offense was committed, he may be extradited to stand trial abroad only if the state seeking extradition promises in advance to allow the person to return to Israel to serve any sentence imposed. Four individuals were extradited from Israel to the U.S. on drug-related charges in 2004. Israel also arrested Zeev Rosenstein, an Israeli underworld figure accused of smuggling large quantities of MDMA from Europe to the U.S., on November 8, 2004, and extradition proceedings are ongoing.

Cultivation/Production. There is negligible cultivation and production of illicit drugs in Israel.

Drug Flow/Transit. Israel is not a significant transit country, although Israeli citizens have been part of international drug trafficking networks in source, transit, and distribution countries. Israel also works with Germany and Holland to interdict the flow of Ecstasy, and with Turkey to interdict the flow of heroin, and with South American countries to interdict the flow of cocaine.

Demand Reduction. A number of both public and private entities are working to reduce the demand for drugs through awareness and prevention. The Israeli Anti-Drug Authority (IADA) is one of the main governmental actors in this effort. Its mission, among other things, is to spearhead prevention efforts, initiate and develop educational services and public awareness, and treat and rehabilitate drug users. It coordinates with and directs the activities of a number of government ministries with a role in reducing demand. The IADA also seeks to change the public atmosphere to counter increasing social acceptance of recreational drug use. Prevention programs target high-risk segments of the population like the Arab sector, as well as youths, students, backpackers, new immigrants, and others. The IADA offers workshops and lectures for immigrants from Russia and Ethiopia in their respective languages and tailored to their particular cultural needs. The IADA is working to reduce demand for narcotics among soldiers by providing officers with the skills to combat effectively the use of drugs within their units. There is an ongoing public awareness campaign aimed at parents and designed to focus their attention on knowing their children’s whereabouts and activities. The IADA also concentrates on human resources development, including the development of a professional infrastructure, and is establishing a unified standard for training purposes, including development of a curriculum for nurses, police, prison employees, physicians, and counselors, as well as other drug prevention, treatment, and enforcement professionals. The IADA also performs basic, epidemiological, and evaluative research in the narcotic drug field. The INP participates in demand reduction initiatives by lecturing at schools at all levels above 10 years of age and in the army about the impact of drugs on the body and mind.

Bilateral Cooperation. DEA officials characterize cooperation between the DEA and the INP as outstanding. All DEA investigations related to Israel are coordinated through the DEA Nicosia Country Office.

Road Ahead. The DEA regional office in Nicosia, Cyprus, looks forward to continued cooperation and coordination with its counterparts in the Israeli law enforcement community. The GOI is seeking to widen and build on relations with other countries and has created an office of International Relations within the IADA to pursue this objective. Israel began its four-year-term as a member of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in January 2004.

Kenya

Kenya is a transit country for heroin and hashish, mostly bound from Southwest Asia for Europe and North America. Heroin transiting Kenya has markedly increased in quality in recent years and is destined increasingly for North America, even as the overall transit volume continued to decline. Although the exact impact of this heroin on the U.S. market is unclear, it is not believed to be significant. Cannabis/marijuana is grown domestically and imported from neighboring countries for the illegal domestic market. There is a small, and believed to be growing, domestic heroin market. Air passenger profiling, airport controls, and other techniques have helped reduce airborne heroin shipments. Interdiction of narcotics shipments by sea has been unsuccessful as Kenyan police lack the necessary infrastructure, funding, or staffing for such an endeavor. A program for profiling shipping containers is in effect, but has had little success due to rampant corruption among customs officials, police, and members of the judiciary. The three year-old "National Drug Control Master Plan" has not moved forward since the cabinet turned the project over to an inter-agency committee led by the Solicitor-General. The Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) of the Kenyan police continues to cooperate well with international and regional counternarcotics officials. In November, Kenya hosted the 16th Operational Meeting of Regional Anti-Narcotics Units and Directors of the Criminal Investigations Division. This working group—composed of ANU and CID representatives from Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, and Kenya as well as observers from Interpol, DEA, the UK’s Drug Liaison Office—shares narcotics-related intelligence, arrest data, and information on emerging trends in order to enhance cross-border counternarcotics efforts. Although government officials profess strong support for counternarcotics efforts, the overall program suffers from a lack of resources, which also hinder its intelligence collection capabilities. Kenya is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention and has enacted full implementing legislation.

Kenya is a significant transit country and a minor producer of narcotics. Heroin and hashish transiting Kenya, believed to have a relatively small impact on the United States, continued to register a decline from their 2001 peak. Cannabis or marijuana is produced in commercial quantities for the domestic market. There is no evidence of any significant impact on the United States. Kenya remains a transit country for small quantities of cocaine and other drugs destined for Southern African and Western European consumers. In general, these drugs originate from outside of Africa. Kenya’s sea and air transportation infrastructure, and a network of commercial and family ties among long-term ethnic South Asian merchants living in Kenya, help explain why Kenya is a significant transit country for Southwest Asian heroin. In 2000, officials noted a dramatic shift from low-purity brown heroin to higher-purity white heroin, and believe that the higher-purity product is destined principally for the United States. This trend continued in 2004. Although it is impossible to quantify exactly, officials now believe that the United States is at least as significant as Europe as a destination for heroin transiting Kenya. In recent years, Kenya has been an important transit point for Southwest Asian cannabis resin (hashish), and police made several multi-ton hashish seizures. Cocaine seizures are down sharply in the past three years. Kenya does not produce significant quantities of precursor chemicals.

Policy Initiatives. The 2001 National Drug Control Master Plan continues to languish within an inter-agency committee chaired by the nation’s solicitor-general.

Counternarcotics agencies, notably the Anti-Narcotics Unit (ANU) within the Kenyan Police Service, continue to depend on the 1994 Narcotics Act for enforcement measures and interdiction guidelines. Most believe that the ten year-old Act is sufficient to sustain current interdiction efforts, but note the Act’s major area of weakness remains its capacity to combat money laundering. The "National Drug Control Master Plan" should it be implemented, would provide for a senior civil servant donor liaison who would co-ordinate a broad counternarcotics effort, to include a much-expanded public campaign aimed at preventing drug use. Additionally, the plan summarizes policies, defines priorities and apportions responsibilities for drug control to various agencies.

The National Campaign Against Drug Abuse (NACADA), a quasi-governmental organization, was given parliamentary recognition and saw its mandates renewed, although its budget remains negligible. Kenyan authorities improved internal information sharing and operational coordination between various government agencies, airlines and other entities over the course of 2004 to complement regional cooperation efforts bolstered by the 2001 East African Community protocol on combating drug trafficking. ANU continued to publicize its counternarcotics message effectively through local media and increased public awareness through lectures aimed at a range of students from primary grade schools through universities and members of local civic groups.

Kenya has no crop substitution or alternative development initiatives for progressive elimination of the cultivation of narcotics crops. The ANU remains the focus of Kenyan counternarcotics efforts.

Accomplishments. The ANU has sustained a successful track record in securing convictions since beginning its program of judicial outreach in 2002. Many ANU officers have undergone training, much of it through the UNODC and bilateral programs sponsored by the U.S., German, British, Japanese and other governments. The ANU and the Kenyan Customs Service now have a cadre of officers proficient in profiling and searching suspected drug couriers and containers at airports and seaports. Profiling has yielded good results, albeit generally for couriers and not major traffickers, and the success rate over the past two years has forced traffickers to seek viable land routes through Kenya. Seaport profiling has proven difficult. Despite the official estimate that eighty percent of the narcotics trafficking through Kenya originates on international sea vessels, personnel turnover at the ports is high and corruption rampant. Resource and staffing inadequacies undercut the sustainability of most training programs, undermining their effectiveness and impact. A high degree of corruption continues to thwart the success of long-term port security training. The ANU has trained two officers in maritime narcotics interdiction; however, the ANU is unlikely to possess boats with which to conduct such operations until 2005. The ANU has built its surveillance capabilities and has capitalized on the information yielded from increasingly sophisticated operations. Inadequate resources, a problem throughout the Kenyan police force, significantly reduce the ANU’s operational effectiveness.

The ANU cooperates fully with the United States and other nations on counternarcotics investigations and other operations. The ANU continues to pass information to Interpol and the DEA on a regular basis. Following a 2002 joint investigation, 2003 saw the first-ever extradition to the United States from Kenya of accused members of a major U.S.-bound drug smuggling ring. The ANU and Attorney General’s Office assisted the U.S. government in this case.

Law Enforcement Efforts. Kenya seized 11.6 kilograms of heroin in 2004—nearly a two percent decrease from the quantities seized in 2003 (all statistics on drug seizures in this section reflect the period from January to November 2004) and arrested 72 people on heroin-related charges. Officials report a sharp shift to higher-quality white heroin from lower-quality brown heroin, and report that traffickers have re-oriented much of the white heroin transiting Kenya for the United States in hopes of a larger profit yield. Most couriers arrested in Kenya conceal heroin by swallowing, though some also hide it in their shoes, false-bottom briefcases, and car engine parts. The ANU concentrates its antiheroin operations at Kenya’s two main international airports. Kenyan authorities seized 188,988 kilograms of cannabis in 2004 and arrested 3,292 suspects. Officials believe Kenyan coastal waters and ports are major transit points for the shipment of hashish from Pakistan to Europe and North America.

The number of individuals arrested and seizures for cocaine trafficking continued to be low in 2004. However, ANU intercepted the largest cocaine shipment ever seized in Kenya on December 14. Police seized two cocaine shipments totaling 954 kilograms. A joint investigation involving the Criminal Investigations Division, Anti-Narcotics Unit, Special Crime Prevention Unit and the General Service Unit of the police raided a warehouse in Nairobi, seizing 253 kilograms of cocaine sealed in a refrigerated container. Another team off the coast of Malindi intercepted an outbound cargo vessel, in which 701 kilograms of cocaine were concealed in two 40-foot shipping containers carrying bananas purportedly from Colombia and Venezuela. ANU speculates the drugs were destined for the Netherlands, shipped under the guise of industrial roofing tiles.

Historically, cocaine seized in Kenya is believed to originate from Brazil and Colombia; its abuse and local availability is not widespread. ANU officials involved in the most recent investigation believe it highlights an emerging trend of traffickers using Kenya as a "re-packing point" for drugs destined to Europe and elsewhere. In this case, the drugs, upon arrival in Nairobi through smaller courier deliveries, were opened, re-packaged and wrapped in plastic wrapping papers before being shipped by road to the Port of Mombasa. Once the shipment arrived in Mombasa, the drugs were initially shipped out to sea in small boats and then transferred to larger cargo vessels.

Despite two successful, highly-publicized targeted raids of 14 farms along Mt. Kenya in 2001 and 2002 that collectively destroyed 460,991.179 kilograms of cannabis, ANU saw an increase in this crop during targeted raids (successful and unsuccessful) in 2004.

The ANU continued to operate roadblocks for domestic drug trafficking interdiction and is pursuing a variety of policy initiatives for more effective coordination with other government agencies. The ANU has launched an outreach effort to persuade judges and magistrates of the seriousness of counternarcotics offenses and identify ways cases can be handled more effectively. The ANU also disseminates its messages through local media.

Corruption. Corruption remains a significant barrier to effective narcotics enforcement at both the prosecutorial and law enforcement level. The British High Commission has been so frustrated by information leaks related to key narcotics seizures that it has ceased training Kenyan customs officials. In 2003, the ANU estimated that a majority of the 200 officers lost to attrition over the previous five years were dismissed as a result of being compromised. Police frequently complain that the courts are ineffective in handling counternarcotics cases, which is likely a combination of corruption, misunderstanding of the law, and simple judicial backlog. In the past, payments ranging from $255 to $6,360 were offered as bribes to judges presiding over narcotics cases. In 2003, 10 judges were dismissed on corruption-related charges, and a parliamentary committee focused on the judiciary found there to be substantial and credible evidence linking 152 of Kenya’s 300 judges and magistrates to corruption and unethical conduct. The Kenyan High Court had previously reassigned all narcotics cases destined for the docket of one of these judges after repeated official protests by ANU officials alleging bribery and flagrant disregard for penal procedures laid out under the 1994 Narcotics Act. Despite Kenya’s strict narcotics laws that encompass most forms of narcotics-related corruption, unconfirmed reports continue linking public officials with narcotics trafficking in the East African region. Employees working at the airport continue to be involved with narcotics traffickers. In April, two Kenya Airways pursers were arrested coming off planes carrying 2.29 kilograms and 3.6 kilograms of heroin in cosmetics cases believed to have originated in Lahore, Pakistan.

Agreements and Treaties. Kenya is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, which it implemented in 1994 with the enactment of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Control Act. Kenya is also a party to the 1961 UN Single Convention and its 1972 Protocol and the1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances. Kenya also is a party to the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime and the UN Convention Against Corruption. The 1931 U.S.-U.K. Extradition Treaty remains in force between the United States and Kenya through a 1965 exchange of notes.

Cultivation and Production. A significant number of Kenyan farmers illegally grow cannabis on a commercial basis for the domestic market. Fairly large-scale cannabis cultivation occurs in the Lake Victoria basin, in the central highlands around Mt. Kenya and along the coast. Foreign tourists export small amounts of Kenyan marijuana. Officials continue to conduct aerial surveys to identify significant cannabis-producing areas in cooperation with the Kenya Wildlife Service. Aerial surveys this year found large cannabis crops in an area of Mount Kenya where crops were previously destroyed by the ANU in 2002. Dangerous weather conditions and poorly maintained helicopters prevented ANU from successfully seizing crops from this location. No aerial eradication efforts were undertaken during the year.

Drug Flow/Transit. Kenya is strategically located along a major transit route between Southwest Asian producers of heroin and markets in Europe and North America. Heroin normally transits Kenya by air, carried by individual couriers. As a result of profiling measures and enhanced counternarcotics efforts, ANU officials believe traffickers are finding Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) an increasingly difficult exit point for East African drugs. ANU officials continued to interrupt couriers transiting a newly-created route through the Kenyan-Ugandan border at Malaba. This first-ever use of this land route in November demonstrates, in the minds of ANU officials, that traffickers have noted the increase in security and narcotics checks at JKIA. South Asians and East Africans remain active couriers, the majority of whom are women. ANU continues to track an emerging trend of Western and Eastern European heroin couriers transiting Kenya to Europe and North America. Once in Kenya, heroin is typically delivered to agents of West African crime syndicates.

There is evidence that poor policing along the East African coast makes this region attractive to maritime smugglers. (Kenya’s neighbor, Somalia, has a long coastline and no functioning government.) Despite the fact local, regional, and international counternarcotics officials have increased attention paid to the maritime transport of narcotics, ANU interdiction capabilities remain nonexistent. Kenya has no functioning maritime interdiction resource. Six officers are assigned to the southern port of Mombasa for profiling purposes only, and the two officers who have been trained in maritime interdiction have no boats from which to operate. There was one maritime heroin seizure in 2004.

Postal and commercial courier services are also used for narcotics shipments through Kenya. In the past, Kenya has been a transit country for methaqualone (Mandrax) en route from India to South Africa. From 1997-2001, there were no methaqualone (Mandrax) seizures in Kenya. However, this changed in 2001 when 52,103 Mandrax tablets were intercepted and seven suspects arrested. In 2003, one person was arrested transporting 10,000 Mandrax tablets. ANU remains concerned that a new, clandestine Mandrax factory may have resumed operations in Kenya. In 2004 ANU arrested an individual in Nairobi carrying 5,000 tablets of the drug.

Officials have never identified any clandestine airstrips in Kenya used for drug deliveries and believe that no such airstrips exist.

Domestic Programs. Kenya has made some progress in efforts to institute programs for demand reduction. In addition to alcohol, illegal cannabis and legal khat are the domestic drugs of choice. Heroin abuse is limited generally to members of the economic elite and a slightly broader range of users on the coast. Academics and rehabilitation clinic staff argue that heroin use in Nairobi and along the coast has grown exponentially since 2003. UNODC is exploring funding for a baseline study of the current heroin use trend level. Solvent abuse is widespread (and highly visible) among street children in Nairobi and other urban centers. There are no reliable statistics on domestic consumption of illicit narcotics.

Demand reduction efforts have largely been limited to publicity campaigns sponsored by private donors and a UNODC project to bring counternarcotics education into the schools. In 2001, however, the Government of Kenya appointed a National Coordinator for its Campaign Against Drug Abuse to initiate national public education programs on drugs. There are no special government rehabilitation or drug abuse treatment facilities, but some churches and non-governmental organizations provide limited rehabilitation and treatment programs for solvent-addicted street children.

Policy Initiatives. The principal U.S. counternarcotics objective in Kenya is to interdict the flow of narcotics to the United States. The U.S. seeks to accomplish this objective through law enforcement cooperation, the encouragement of a strong Kenyan government commitment to narcotics interdiction and strengthening Kenyan counternarcotics and overall judicial capabilities.

Bilateral Cooperation. There was a modest expansion of USG bilateral cooperation with Kenya and surrounding countries on counternarcotics matters in 2004. The USG provided funding to facilitate the 16th Operational Regional Counter-Narcotics Conference and has pledged funding to support the Spring 2005 conference as well. Counternarcotics training opportunities, sniffer dogs, cars, and equipment offers have also been given to the counternarcotics unit in the 2003-2004 period. The U.S. also provided the ANU with computers and related equipment and has financed several DEA courses. The United States remains active in the Mini-Dublin Group, which has responsibility for coordinating counternarcotics assistance from several Western donors.

Road Ahead. The USG will continue to take advantage of its good relations with Kenyan law enforcement to build professionalism, operational capacity and information sharing. As a regional hub, Nairobi remains a key location for conducting regional training and other regional initiatives and the USG will actively seek ways to maximize counternarcotics efforts both in Kenya and throughout East Africa. Perhaps most significantly, the U.S. will work with local, regional and international partners to better understand and combat the flow of international narcotics, particularly heroin, through Kenya to the United States.

Lebanon

Lebanon is not a major illicit drug producing or drug-transit country. The Lebanese government reported success against illicit poppy and cannabis crops for 2004. While the government claimed extensive crop destruction, other observers said that the threat of destruction made crop destruction unnecessary, since farmers sharply curtailed plantings. In any case, no significant illicit drug production took place during 2004 in Lebanon. Nevertheless, illicit crop cultivation is likely to continue to remain an option to local farmers due to an increasingly difficult economic climate and a lack of investment in alternative crops.

If government crop destruction claims are to be believed, cultivation of illicit crops increased slightly from 2003 to 2004. There is practically no illicit drug refining in Lebanon, and no production, trading or transit of precursor chemicals. Drug trafficking across the Lebanese-Syrian border has diminished substantially as a result of Lebanese and Syrian efforts to deter smuggling activity. The government continued its ongoing drug reduction efforts through public service messages and awareness campaigns. Lebanon is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

The deteriorating economic situation in Lebanon and the lack of investment in alternative crops continues to make illicit crop cultivation appealing to local farmers in the Bekka’ Valley in eastern Lebanon. Government crop eradication operations have put some pressure on the amount of land farmers dedicated to illicit crops, based on the fear that investment in cultivation and labor would all be for naught if the crop is destroyed before harvest. The government tried to capitalize on this fear by continuing a counternarcotics campaign to discourage new planting.

According to the Internal Security Forces (ISF), approximately 68,000 square meters of poppy and 13,089,000 square meters of cannabis were eradicated in 2004. The Judiciary Police—the law enforcement agency tasked with counternarcotics responsibilities—claimed to have accomplished complete eradication in 2004.

At least five types of drugs are available in Lebanon: hashish, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and other synthetics, such as MDMA (Ecstasy). Hashish and heroin are reported to be rare, due to the destruction of local crops; small quantities of cocaine arrive in Lebanon to meet very modest local demand; and the government reported increased interest in synthetic drugs.

Lebanon is not a major transit country for illicit drugs, and most trafficking is done by "amateurs," rather than major drug networks. Marijuana and opium derivatives are trafficked to a modest extent in the region, but there is no evidence that the illicit narcotics that transit Lebanon reach the U.S. in significant amounts. South American cocaine is smuggled into Lebanon primarily via air and sea routes either directly or from Europe, Jordan, and Syria. Lebanese nationals living in South America in concert with resident Lebanese traffickers often finance these operations. According to a report issued by the Judiciary Police in 2003, very small quantities of cocaine were smuggled into Lebanon in 2003, as compared to an average of approximately 500 kilograms in previous years. Synthetics are smuggled into Lebanon primarily for sale to high-income recreational users.

There is no significant illicit drug refining in Lebanon. Such activity has practically disappeared due to the vigilance of the Syrian and Lebanese governments. Small amounts of precursor chemicals, however, shipped from Lebanon to Turkey via Syria, were previously diverted for illicit use. Legislation passed in 1998 authorized seizure of assets if a drug trafficking nexus is established in court proceedings.

Policy Initiatives. The Ministry of Interior again made counternarcotics a top priority. Notably, the Judicial Police made arrests in 2004 for narcotics-related offenses for the first time in over 35 years. The government also continued its public awareness advertising campaigns to discourage drug use, and this year took their message to university campuses. The Ministry of Interior sent counternarcotics messages on mobile phones. Counternarcotics posters and slogans were displayed throughout the country. Counternarcotics ads and video clips were broadcast on television stations, and tee-shirts reading "Together Against Drugs" were distributed to NGOs participating in the drug awareness and drug abuse reduction campaigns.

Accomplishments. In 2004, the Government of Lebanon continued cannabis and poppy eradication. A reliable local expert and director of an agricultural research center reported that the government’s zero-tolerance policy has been a great success. Demand reduction campaigns were also on going and pervasive. The Government of Lebanon received from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) a $362,000 grant for "the development and implementation of a national action plan on drug demand reduction in Lebanon" from 2004-2006.

Law Enforcement Efforts. The ISF reported seizures of 900 kilograms of hashish, and significantly lesser quantities of other illicit drugs. In 2004, Police arrested 960 persons for drug abuse, 847 for dealing in narcotics, and 142 for distribution of narcotics. Smaller numbers of arrests were registered for planting, smuggling, and transporting illegal narcotics. The total number of persons arrested in 2004 for drug related crimes was 1,949, including the arrest in June of one of the major drug dealers in Lebanon. Abou Ali Sadek el-Masri was apprehended in his home in the Bekka’ Valley in a joint operation carried out by the ISF and the army.

Corruption. Corruption remains endemic in Lebanon up to the senior levels of government, but none of the corruption is reported to be connected with drug production or trafficking or the protection of persons who deal in illicit drugs. While low-level corruption in the counternarcotics forces is possible, there is no evidence of wide-scale corruption within the Judiciary Police or the ISF. ISF members appear to be genuinely dedicated to combating drugs.

Agreements and Treaties. Lebanon is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and the 1961 UN Single Convention, as amended by the 1972 Protocol. Lebanon has signed, but has not yet ratified the UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime.

Cultivation and Production. There are conflicting reports on cultivation of illicit crops. Statistics from the Judicial Police this year show that 68,000 square meters of poppy and 13,089,000 square meters of cannabis were eradicated during 2004. However, a respected agricultural research center reported that, in fact, there were no eradications of illicit crops because farmers did not plant illicit crops. According to the director of the center, farmers have been thoroughly intimidated by police efforts to eradicate illicit crops. Knowing that the crops will be destroyed, and given the poor economic climate, farmers are loath to invest in that which they believe will be destroyed.

Drug Flow/Transit. Illicit drug trafficking via traditional smuggling routes has been somewhat curtailed by joint Syrian-Lebanese operations, but nonetheless continues. Drug trafficking along the Israel-Lebanon border has been negligible since the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000 and the subsequent virtual sealing of the border. The primary route for smuggling hashish from Lebanon during 2004 was overland to Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and via sea routes to Europe. According to the ISF, large exports of hashish from Lebanon to Europe are more and more difficult for smugglers due to increased seashore patrols and airport control. The ISF asserts that no hashish has been smuggled into the United States.

Domestic Programs (Demand Reduction). Lebanese leaders recognize the need to address the problem of illicit drug use. In 2002, the government launched a widespread public awareness campaign to discourage drug use, which remains on going. Textbooks approved for use in all public schools contain a chapter on narcotics to increase public awareness. The current law on drugs dictates that a National Council on Drugs (NCD) be established, whose services and activities will include substance abuse treatment, prevention, awareness, assistance to substance users and their families, in addition to setting up a national action plan. The government has been engaged in the establishment of this council since 2001; however, the NCD has not yet been formed.

There are several detoxification programs, but the only entity in Lebanon that offers a comprehensive drug rehabilitation program is Oum al-Nour (ON), a Beirut-based NGO. The Government of Lebanon, through the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Public Health, provided 36 percent of ON’s $1,000,000 budget in 2004 budget. ON estimates that the age of the average drug addict in Lebanon has been decreasing since the end of the country’s civil war in 1990, with pre-college and college-age youth now being the most vulnerable. In 2004, 60 percent of ON’s clients were under 24, compared to 5 percent for the same age group in 1990. ON statistics, based on their patient base, indicate that the most commonly abused illicit substance is heroin, but use of "designer" drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy is increasing.

ON operates three drug treatment centers in Lebanon, two for men and one for women. The centers, which have a maximum capacity of 70 patients, offer a yearlong residential program for hard-core addicts, and sometimes operate above nominal capacity. The centers provide detoxification, psychiatric, spiritual, and social programs without the use of substitution products. A new section, funded by USAID, was built in one of the men’s centers and became operational in September. The new section, which can accommodate 12 to 15 patients, has taken in 21 patients since September. ON does not offer outpatient care for individuals whose addictions do not warrant hospitalization.

ON also engages in drug prevention activities such as distributing educational materials on college campuses and promoting drug awareness among the population through advertisements and education programs. The organization also has a research office and a center for statistical studies.

Another drug rehabilitation center for men opened in Zahleh in the Bekka’ Valley in coordination with the Saint Charles Hospital and the Ministry of Health. The center can accommodate up to 16 patients. The center’s team of psychiatrists, clinical psychologists and social workers also does clinical training for hospital staff.

A new walk-in outpatient therapeutic facility for addiction that offers prevention, awareness, and psychological treatment to drug users and their families called Skoun (which means "internal tranquility" or "silence" in Arabic) opened last year in downtown Beirut. The center is currently treating some 20 outpatients.

Other associations that fight drugs are: Jeunesse Anti-Drogue (JAD), which is primarily committed to drug awareness but also provides medical treatment and psychological rehabilitation on an outpatient basis; Jeunesse Contre la Drogue (JCD), which raises awareness of substance abuse and AIDS, and helps users get proper treatment and rehabilitation; and Association Justice et Misericorde (AJEM), which was established to assist prisoners. One recurrent problem is the lack of coordination between concerned ministries and sometimes between the various NGOs that work on substance abuse.

According to the report "Substance Use and Misuse in Lebanon", released by the UNODC in May 2003, ISF participants in the study reported that individuals arrested for substance-related offenses most commonly use heroin, hashish, marijuana, and cocaine. Furthermore, the participants noted that inappropriate use of licit medications is on the rise in prisons, and that the use of Ecstasy is uncommon. Data from treatment/rehabilitation centers, however, showed that Ecstasy and abuse of licit opiates are on the rise. Data gathered from street substance users showed that abuse of codeine and other licit medications is on the rise, and additionally, the young population is increasingly inhaling thinner.

U.S. Policy Initiatives. In meetings with Lebanese officials, U.S. officials continued to stress the need for diligence in preventing the production and transportation of narcotics, and the need for a comprehensive development program for the Bekka’ Valley that would provide the impoverished residents with alternate sources of income. The USG also stressed the importance of anticorruption efforts.

Bilateral Cooperation. USAID, in close cooperation with the Embassy, continued its four-component program to aid and empower key Lebanese stakeholders—local government, media, and civil society—in their efforts to fight corruption. On the supply side, USAID assisted U.S. and local NGOs working with villages to promote the substitution of illicit crops with legitimate, economically viable ones. USAID also helped increase the receiving capacity of one of Oum el Nour’s rehabilitation centers (see paragraph above on Domestic Programs). In 2003, State Department counternarcotics assistance funded a narcotics demand reduction program administered by a Beirut-based NGO, the Justice and Mercy Association (AJEM). The project was designed to create a drug treatment facility in Roumieh prison to provide treatment and social rehabilitation for drug addicted prisoners incarcerated there. The State Department also funded a second project aimed at expanding receiving and treatment capacity at Oum el Nour centers.

The Road Ahead. Given the close involvement of Lebanese and Syrian officials in the battle against illicit narcotics, success in combating narcotics cultivation and trafficking depends on the will of both the Syrian and Lebanese governments. The GOL, in cooperation with the Syrian government, appears to have either eradicated or prevented, through threat of eradication, all illicit cultivation during 2004. However, it has not successfully developed a socio-economic strategy to tackle the problem of crop substitution. The USG will continue to press the GOL to maintain its commitment to combating drug production and transit and implementing anticorruption policies.

Morocco

Morocco continues to be a major producer and exporter of cannabis. It produced an estimated 47,400 metric tons of cannabis in 2003, providing for potential cannabis resin (hashish) production of 3,080 metric tons, according to a joint study released in late 2003 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Morocco’s Agency for the Promotion and the Economic and Social Development of the Northern Prefectures and Provinces of the Kingdom (APDN). A Moroccan government (GOM) study examining production levels for 2004 is still underway. Evidence continues to indicate the United States is not a major recipient of drugs from Morocco. According to the UNODC report, an estimated 134,000 hectares of land were used to cultivate cannabis in 2003, greatly surpassing the GOM’s earlier estimates of a growing area covering a total of 15,000-20,000 hectares. The UNODC study also states that approximately 800,000 Moroccans (2.7 percent of the country’s 2002 population) were involved in cannabis cultivation. Morocco’s efforts to combat cannabis cultivation are made more difficult by limited short-term economic alternatives for those involved in its production. Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Morocco consistently ranks among the world’s largest producers and exporters of cannabis, and its cultivation and sale provide the economic base for much of northern Morocco. Only very small amounts of narcotics produced in or transiting through Morocco reach the United States. According to the UNODC report, the illicit trade in Moroccan cannabis resin generates approximately $12 billion a year. Independent estimates indicate that the returns from cannabis cultivation range from $16,400-$29,800 per hectare (little of which goes to the grower himself), compared with an average of $1,000 per hectare for one possible alternative, corn.

According to EU law enforcement officials, Moroccan cannabis is typically processed into cannabis resin or oil and exported to Europe, Algeria, and Tunisia. To date, Morocco has no enterprises that use dual-use precursor chemicals, and is thus neither a source nor transit point for them. While there has been a small but growing domestic market for harder drugs like heroin and cocaine, cannabis remains the most widely used illicit drug in Morocco. Although there is no substantial evidence of widespread trafficking in heroin or cocaine, press reports suggest Latin American cocaine traffickers may have started using well-established cannabis smuggling routes to move cocaine into Europe.

Policy Initiatives. In May, the Interior Ministry announced the government was drafting a "new integrated plan" to fight drug trafficking and was considering revitalizing the National Commission of the Struggle Against Drugs. The new plan will gradually reduce the areas in which cannabis is grown, intensify border controls, expand regional and international cooperation in training, and include an aggressive public awareness campaign. The GOM’s partnership with the UNODC in conducting the 2003 cannabis survey reflects the GOM’s most significant effort to compile accurate and comprehensive data about narcotics production.

Throughout the 1980’s, the GOM worked in conjunction with the UN to devise a response to the unique geographic, cultural and economic circumstances that confront the many people involved in the cultivation of cannabis in northern Morocco. Joint projects to encourage cultivation of alternative agricultural products included providing goats for dairy farming, apple trees, and small bee-keeping initiatives. This effort also included paved roads, modern irrigation networks, and health and veterinary clinics. In the 1990’s, the GOM has continued its focus on development alternatives in Morocco’s northern provinces through the work of APDN and the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA). In June 2003, TMSA oversaw the groundbreaking of the centerpiece of its northern development program, the Tanger-MED port, which is set to become Morocco’s primary maritime gateway to the world.

Accomplishments. In September, Morocco and France agreed to reinforce bilateral counternarcotics cooperation by deploying liaison officers to Tangiers and France. Morocco has legislation providing the maximum allowable prison sentence for drug offenses to 30 years, as well as fines for narcotics violations ranging from $20,000-$80,000. Ten years imprisonment remains the typical sentence for major drug traffickers arrested in Morocco. The Ministry of Justice has drawn up a draft law to further strengthen drug trafficking sentences.

Law Enforcement Efforts. In May, the Criminal Court of Tetouan sentenced convicted drug trafficker Mounir Erramach to 20 years in prison for drug trafficking and related charges and fined him $375 million for customs and criminal violations. The court also handed down sentences ranging from one month in jail to life imprisonment to 26 other defendants in the case, including a rival drug kingpin who is still at large. The Court of Appeals of Tetouan upheld in December the majority of these sentences, including those of the two lead defendants, but reduced the sentences of four defendants and acquitted three others. In February, the GOM dismantled a small-scale crack cocaine smuggling network in Marrakech, leading to the seizure of 70 grams of the drug and the sentencing of 22 individuals to prison terms varying from one month to six years.

As part of a 1992 counternarcotics initiative, an estimated 10,000 police were detailed to drug interdiction efforts in the North and Rif mountains in 1995. Since then, approximately every six months, the GOM has rotated personnel into this region and continued to maintain narcotics checkpoints. Moroccan forces also staff observation posts along the Mediterranean coast, and the Moroccan Navy carries out routine sea patrols and responds to information developed by the observation posts. None of these efforts, however, has changed the underlying reality of extensive cannabis cultivation and trafficking in northern Morocco.

Corruption. Investigations into charges of alleged "abuse of power, corruption, embezzlement of public funds, drug trafficking," and violations of professional confidentiality by senior police officers and customs officials, as well as magistrates, court clerks, and other local government officials linked to the Erramach case, were still underway in December. Despite enforcement efforts in this case, corruption, at some level, is likely to play a role in Morocco’s continuing trafficking of cannabis products.

Agreements and Treaties. The U.S. and Morocco cooperate in judicial matters through a convention on mutual legal assistance. Morocco is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, as amended by the 1972 Protocol amending the Single Convention. Morocco is a party to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime.

Cultivation/Production. The center of cannabis production continues to be the province of Chefchaouen, although production has expanded in the last 20 years north to the outskirts of Tangiers, west to the coastal city of Larache, and east toward Al Hoceima. According to the UNODC report, small farmers in the northern Rif region grow most cannabis, where an estimated 27 percent of arable land is dedicated to its cultivation. Production also occurs on a smaller scale in the Souss valley of the South. The UNODC survey found that 75 percent of villages and 96,600 farms in the Rif region cultivate cannabis, representing 6.5 percent of all farms in Morocco.

The GOM has stated its commitment to the total eradication of cannabis production, but given the economic and historical dependence on cannabis in the northern region, eradication is only feasible if accompanied by a well-designed development strategy involving reform of local government and a highly subsidized crop substitution program. Moroccan officials have indicated that crop substitution programs thus far appear to have made little headway in providing economic alternatives to cannabis production. The amount of cannabis production measured in 2003 suggests that the crop’s cultivation has seen a steady increase over the past few years, to the detriment of other agricultural activities. The UNODC report warned that this agricultural monoculture represents an extreme danger to the ecosystem, as the extensive use of fertilizers and forest removal continue to be the methods of choice to make room for cannabis cultivation.

Drug Flow/Transit. The primary ports of export for Moroccan cannabis are Oued Lalou, Martil and Bou Ahmed on the Mediterranean coast. Most large shipments bound for Spain travel via fishing vessels and private yachts. Shipments of up to two tons increasingly are being confiscated on smaller "zodiac" speedboats that reportedly are capable of making roundtrips to Spain in one hour. Smugglers also continue to ship cannabis via truck and car through the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, and the Moroccan port of Tangiers, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar by ferry. According to the UNODC, Spain still accounts for the world’s largest portion of cannabis resin seizures (57 percent of global seizures and 75 percent of European seizures in 2001). The Moroccan press reported that some 800 tons of Moroccan cannabis resin were seized in Spain in 2004. Given its proximity to Morocco, Spain is a key transfer point for Europe-bound Moroccan cannabis resin.

Domestic Programs. The GOM is concerned about signs of an increase in domestic heroin and cocaine use, but does not aggressively promote reduction in domestic demand for these drugs or for cannabis. It has established a program to train the staffs of psychiatric hospitals in the treatment of drug addiction. In partnership with UNODC, the Ministry of Health is exploring the relationship between drug use and HIV/AIDS infection in Morocco. Moroccan civil society and some schools are active in promoting counternarcotics use campaigns.

U.S. Policy Initia