UN 2007 World Drug Report

I'm flipping through my copy of the United Nations 2007 World Drug Report and on page 11 this graph hit me in the face:


Thats right! According to the UN, last year's opium exports from Afghanistan alone was greater than the yearly global output of opium for each of the last 16 years!

Oh but it gets better. The ability of the UN for spin cannot be understated. Look at this graph from page 10 of the same report:

The text next to the graph points out ONLY the good interpretation of the data in the graph.

The significance of the contraction in opium cultivation in Myanmar and Laos cannot be overstated. Although opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan increased massively in 2006, the global area under illicit poppy cultivation
was still 10 per cent lower in 2006 than in 2000, due to reduction in South-East Asia.

-From UN World Drug Report 2007, Page 10 (Emphasis mine)

I love how they cherry pick the two years to do the comparison with "2006 was 10% lower than 2000." While at the same time the graph points out that in 2006 the opium cultivation was better than 10% greater than cultivation in any year SINCE 2000 (with the exception of 2004 which was another good year for the CIA.)

This report is simply astounding. It is almost a perfect study course in political spin. The charts and graphs say one thing and the text points out only the most positive aspects of the data.

Jon

[edit on 8.14.2007 by Voxel]