DRUG TRADE IN THE BALKANS (BALKAN ROUTE)

Abstract

The Balkan route continues to play a major role in supplying opiates to markets in
the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkey, the Caucasus region, parts of the Middle East and Europe.
This brief update aims to provide an update on the latest developments in the early stages of
the Balkan route from Afghanistan to Turkey, including the latest developments in Iraq, Syria
and selected countries in Europe related to the opiate trade from Afghanistan. While all types
of illicit drugs, from domestic cannabis to synthetic drugs, are readily available in the Balkans,
the heroin trade is the most worrying. Due to its profitability and cost to human health, it
destroys the lives of the most productive sections of the population (the average age of a heroin
addict is 25), as well as the spread of AIDS.