MOSCOW, September 12 (RIA Novosti) - The amount of heroin produced in Afghanistan in 2007 is set to exceed 800 metric tons, a record for the country, the head of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Cherkesov said.
"The volume of opiates produced (in Afghanistan) has increased dramatically. In comparison with last year, there has been an increase of 30%," Cherkesov told journalists.
Cherkesov also said that the problem with heroin production in Afghanistan was a "not just a regional problem, but a global one."
He added that 97% of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan.
"Afghanistan's economy is almost entirely based on the production of heroin. It not only feeds peasants, but gives millions in profits to those who control the process," he went on.
Heroin production in Afghanistan has increased 20-fold since the Taliban was toppled by allied forces in December 2001.
