VIENNA, March 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Drug trafficking has posed a serious threat to the stability in Afghanistan, a key UN drug control body said in a report released here Wednesday.

    Drug production in Afghanistan is so widespread that it has become a severe threat to this new democracy as well as the stability and economic recovery of the country as a whole, the Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said in its 2004 annual report.

    Noting that illicit drug production in Afghanistan has reached a record level, the report said: "The complex inter-linkage of terrorism, organized crime, corruption and drug trafficking poses an unprecedented threat, raising concerns that the overall situation may worsen."

    The report also urged international cooperation to fight unlicensed Internet pharmacies as they are operating in contravention of international norms and national legislation.

    Internet pharmacies sell several billion doses of medicine illicitly each year, most of them involved internationally controlled narcotics and so-called psychotropic substances, which act on the mind, the INCB report said.

    The INCB called on national authorities to take steps to stop legal suppliers from providing unlicensed on-line pharmacies with many of the drugs they sell.

    North America is the biggest market in the world for illicit drugs and Russia has become the biggest heroin market in Europe with over one million heroin users, the report said.

    The INCB is an independent body that monitors the implementation of UN drug conventions and monitors the global supply of legal drugs. Enditem