World high on ecstasy: Report

VIENNA: Production of heroin, cocaine and cannabis decreased or stabilized in 2008, but synthetic drugs like ecstasy went up, the UN's drug agency said in its annual report published yesterday.

"Global markets for cocaine, opiates and cannabis are steady or in decline, while production and use of synthetic drugs is feared to be increasing in the developing world," the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said in its 2008 World Drug Report.

Poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, where 93 percent of the world's opium is grown, was down by 19 percent last year, while coca leaf cultivation in Colombia, the world's largest cultivator, fell by 18 percent, the report said.