The head of the United Nations' Office on Drug Control and Crime said that nations had achieved "containment worldwide" of drug supply, demand, and trafficking, although he said that problem areas remain, the Voice of America reported June 26.

"When I say 'containment worldwide' it does not mean that all countries have moved in the same direction," said Antonio Costa. "Some countries have improved. In some other instances they have worsened."

Costa cited the latest edition of the annual World Drug Report, which found a 22-percent decline in opium poppy production in 2005 and declining cocaine consumption in the U.S. and throughout North and South America.

On the other hand, the report said that cocaine use is up in Europe, along with amphetamine use, and that marijuana use stubbornly retained its mantle as the world's most popular illicit drug.

U.S. drug czar John Walters praised Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Afghan President Harmid Karzai for their counter-narcotics efforts. "No nation has done more to reduce drugs and terror than Colombia under the presidency of Uribe," said Walters. "He has been aggressive, and the consequences have been the extension of the rule of law, economic growth, [and] the ability of a nation to pull itself back from drug trafficking and drug terror as never before."

But U.S. officials also noted that cocaine production was up in other Andean nations, including Peru and Bolivia.

Costa called on nations to devote more resources to controlling demand for drugs, including expansion of drug treatment and prevention programs.