Kyrgyzstan Confronted by Narcotics Nightmare as Drug Trade Booms

Despite several years of anti-drug campaigns, Kyrgyzstan's narcotics trade continues to boom, threatening to the country's stability. Addiction rates to opiates -- easy to come by on the heroin highway that stretches from Afghanistan to points West – are climbing.

Geography explains much of the reason behind Kyrgyzstan's predicament. Nearly 60 percent of the opiates transited from Afghanistan, the world's leading producer, are conveyed through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Some 50 heroin labs are located on Afghan-Tajik border, from where heroin comes to Osh city, the Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency reports.

Afghan poppy production reached a four-year high last year, and Kyrgyz drug seizures increased with it. In 2003, Kyrgyz drug control officials seized 3.5 tons of illegal narcotics, a 22 percent increase over the preceding year, according to the UNODC.

Kyrgyz authorities are concerned about the rise of "hard-drug" usage among Kyrgyz. In an interview with EurasiaNet, Kyrgyz Republic Drug Control Agency Chief Kubatbekov Kurmanbek estimated that opiate use now accounts for 70 percent of the country's total illicit drug consumption. A decade ago, the majority of Kyrgyz users preferred marijuana. The UNODC places Kyrgyzstan¹s total number of drug users at between 80,000-100,000 individuals out of an overall population of roughly 5 million. Though not at epidemic levels, the figure represents a six-fold increase compared with 1994.

Ample conditions exist within Kyrgyzstan for the narcotics trade to take even deeper root. To locals living in rural areas, drug trafficking offers a way to stay out of poverty. In 2002, the latest year for which figures are available, Kyrgyzstan reported a per capita income of just $2,900, the second lowest in the CIS after Tajikistan. By comparison, a kilogram of heroin can fetch as much as $5,500 in Bishkek, according to UNODC data. The government estimates that unemployed and uneducated Kyrgyzstanis accounted for 93 percent of all narcotics-related crimes in 2003. Ironically, Kyrgyzstan was the first Central Asian state to introduce legislation regulating trade in narcotics.

At the same time, annual public health expenditures in Kyrgyzstan are among Central Asia¹s lowest, at a mere $145 per capita, according to the UNDP. That leaves the country at high risk for proliferation of HIV/AIDS. According to government statistics, drug users who share needles account for 80 percent of the country's HIV cases. The UN reports that such cases are heaviest in the border regions with Tajikistan, where access to heroin is easier. In fact, a February 2004 report from the UN Development Program reported that more than half of the 364 HIV cases reported in Kyrgyzstan in 2003 can be traced to just one prison in the Osh district. To combat this problem, the country has introduced a needle-exchange program, aimed particularly at Kyrgyzstani prisons. A March 9 report by the AKIpress news agency said there may be as many as 1,600 HIV cases in Osh.

The region's opiate trade has reportedly helped fund arms purchases and other needs for Islamic radical groups in the region. International law enforcement authorities remain concerned that many trafficking operations continue to be run by radicals. Sensitive to the possibility, Kyrgyz officials continue to address the issues of terrorism and drug trafficking in tandem. During February 25 talks in Washington with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Foreign Minister Askar Aitmatov appealed for international help to curb drug trafficking even while highlighting the rise of religious extremists within the region.

In tacit recognition of the link, the United States pledged $6.3 million in 2003 to help establish the Kyrgyz Drug Control Agency. A US-assisted program to enhance Kyrgyz surveillance of passports is underway, and a senior US adviser is slotted to travel to Bishkek before July to advise the government on recommended law enforcement and legal reforms to help combat the opiate trade.

The United States is not the only regional player with an interest in a solution to Central Asia's narcotics worries. The issue figured prominently during European Union Commissioner Chris Patten's Central Asia tour, which wrapped up on March 19. It was the first such EU visit to the region since 1996.

China also is also paying close attention to the trafficking issue, concerned that drug trade profits could finance potential separatist action by Uighur radicals in Xinjiang Province. On March 1, China expressed willingness to cooperate with other members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to combat drug trafficking throughout Central Asia, the Xinhua news agency reported. [For additional information see the Eurasia Insight archive].