# UN: Bulgaria One of Main Illegal Cannabis Cultivators in Europe



## FruityBud (Feb 26, 2010)

The UN Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2009 has stated that Bulgaria is one of main countries in Europe for the illegal cultivation of cannabis.

The report, that was published Friday, stated that Albania, Bulgaria and Serbia have emerged as some of the main countries in Eastern Europe in which cannabis is illicitly cultivated. It added that Albanian cannabis is smuggled by land on a route leading through the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Bulgaria to Turkey and on another route leading to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and countries in Western Europe.

The Control Board urged the governments of countries in Central and Eastern Europe to increase their efforts to counter cannabis trafficking and reported that the Bulgarian government had seized 14 806 Kg of cannabis in 2008 along with major seizures of heroin and amphetamine.

They added that in 2008, Bulgarian law enforcement authorities intercepted heroin consignments for the first time: four consignments of heroin, totalling 422 kg, were seized on a route used as an alternative to the classic Balkan route, leading from the Islamic Republic of Iran through Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and then crossing the Black Sea by ferry boat from Poti, Georgia, to Burgas

In the section on ecstasy the Report also confirmed that Bulgarian authorities were responsible for the biggest seizure  amounting to 56kg. It continued that according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Serbia are emerging as countries used for the illicit manufacture of amphetamine.

With regard to drug use the Report revealed that Bulgarians abuse cannabis less than all other Europeans apart from the Maltese. However, Bulgaria also revealed the highest lifetime prevalence of ecstasy in Europe of almost 7%.

The most rapid scaling up of substitution treatment was also reported to have been seen in Bulgaria (where in 2007 nearly 3,000 treatment places were available, compared with only 380 in 2003).

*hxxp://tinyurl.com/ydvwavn*


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