The illicit sale over the internet of pharmaceutical drugs with narcotic effects surged in 2004, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said on Tuesday.

"Narcotic and psychotropic substances are increasingly being advertised and illicitly sold without required prescriptions by internet pharmacies ... subjecting customers to serious health risks," said the panel, an independent body monitoring implementation of UN drugs conventions.

It also said opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan was fast rising to previous levels under the Taliban and that it was "on the road to becoming a a major drug-trafficking state".

"In Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation increased from 3200 tonnes in 2003 to 4200 tonnes in 2004," INCB president Hamid Ghodse said.

"This total comes close to the record of 4600 tonnes registered in 1999 under the Taliban regime."

In its 2004 report, the agency said pharmaceutical drugs, often substances with a high abuse potential such as stimulants and tranquilisers, were being sold online by outfits operating throughout the world.

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AdvertisementIt said investigations carried out in Asia and Europe had shown that "around 90 per cent of such sales by internet pharmacies are conducted without the prescriptions required for internationally controlled narcotic drugs and psychotropic subtances".

Mind-altering substances currently make up the vast majority of products sold online, posing a serious health hazard for clients, given the lack of control, it added.

Among these products are stimulants like amphetamines, and benzodiazepine tranquilizers, such as alprazolam and diazepam, as well as potentially lethal substances like fenatanyl and secobarbital.

A further worry, the INCB noted, was the lack of age restrictions in internet sales.

"The illicit trade over the internet has been identified as one of the major sources for prescription medications abused by children and adolescents in certain countries such as the United States," it said.

In general, it cost more to buy pharmaceutical drugs over the internet than at a chemist and medical aid systems did not reimburse the cost, indicating that users turned to the internet because they failed to get legal prescriptions for the drugs, the agency added.

INCB president Hamid Ghodse conceded that it was difficult to police the situation because internet companies "can easily be relocated" if the laws of the country from which they operate are tightened,

But he urged governments to tackle the problem with the urgency it required.

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