United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

BELGRADE, Dec 6 (Tanjug) - Serbia's First Deputy PM and FM Ivica Dacic met with the head of the UNODC (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) regional office for southeastern Europe Danilo Rizzi on Wednesday.

Poppy cultivation and opium production have plunged 95 percent in Afghanistan since Taliban authorities banned the crop, according to a U.N. report published Sunday.

Since returning to power in 2021, Taliban authorities have vowed to end illegal drug production in Afghanistan and in April 2022 banned the cultivation of the poppy plant, from which opium and heroin are made.

A horrific incident unfolded in northern Iran as a massive fire engulfed a rehabilitation center for drug addicts, claiming the lives of 32 individuals, according to a report by AFP.

Dutch police said on Jan. 23 they had arrested the alleged leader of a sprawling Asian drug syndicate who is listed as one of the world's most-wanted fugitives and has been compared to Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

A century from the Greater Union, Romania is a respected European and global actor, not least because of a constructive way of translating the objectives of its foreign policy and the political family to which it belongs - the European Union and NATO - while taking up responsibilities of general interest, ambassador Cristian Istrate, head of the Permanent Mission of Romania to the International

The Israeli government voted on March 5  in favour of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use, joining some U.S. states and European countries who have adopted a similar approach.

Afghanistan's opium production has risen sharply this year in comparison to last, according to an executive summary of the country's official opium survey released Sunday.

Opium production in the war-ravaged nation is up by 43 per cent, to 4,800 metric tons this year, according to a press release from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan reached a record high in 2014, a United Nations report revealed Wednesday, highlighting the failure of the multi-billion-dollar US-led campaign to crack down on the lucrative crop.