Money is tight these days. Creditors have been badly burned, and banks are wary of lending to each other or to risky clients. And yet, in many parts of the world, sub-prime lending is exactly what is needed to foster development and reduce vulnerability to drugs and crime.

"Tutti quelli che conosco o sono morti o sono in galera. Io voglio diventare un boss."

Parole forti, scritte da un giovane carcerato in una lettera alla famiglia. Dove pensate che sia detenuto l'autore della lettera? In un paese del sud America, controllato dalle bande dei narcotrafficanti? In Africa in una di quelle fatiscenti celle in cui vengono rinchiusi i bambini-soldato ogni qualvolta scoppia una guerra civile? O meglio ancora in uno stato ex comunista in cui la transizione verso l'economia di mercato ha fatto registrare un'impennata vertiginosa dei crimini?

Bankers are getting a run for their money these days. Their greed, arrogance and deception have shaken people's confidence in their profession and the trust of the institutions that conspired with them to cause the crisis -- hedge and investment funds, insurance companies, rating and audit agencies

Climate change and environmental sustainability are high priorities today. A shocking truth is that criminals are profiting from the destruction of our planet.

Le 17 septembre dernier, je me suis rendu à Paris principalement pour parler de l'Afghanistan.

Dans un article d'opinion publié dans Le Monde du 19 septembre, j'ai souligné les liens qui existent entre l'insurrection et le commerce d'opium. J'ai également attiré l'attention sur le fait que les talibans pourraient proclamer un moratoire sur la culture d'opium dans les zones qu'ils contrôlent.

Last week in Bangkok I launched the latest report from UNODC called Amphetamines and Ecstasy: 2008 Global ATS Assessment . It provides a sharp picture of the situation of synthetic drugs around the world.

It shows that for many people, synthetic drugs have become the tonic for fast and competitive times. Around the world, people are popping pills and powder known as amphetamine-type stimulants (or ATS). In the West, it is usually used as a "party drug" or to enhance performance (also known as cheating), among professional athletes. In the East, it is being taken to stay alert in manual jobs, like on assembly lines or long-haul trucking.

The Secretary-General has encouraged staff not to be risk-averse, to be creative, and to push the boundaries in order to innovate. At UNODC, we take this message seriously. In fact, for the second year in a row UNODC staff have won more than a fifth of the UN21 awards that honour staff initiatives to improve the effectiveness of UN programmes and services. More than 20% of the awards from an Office with less than 2% of the UN's staff! Not bad.

I have been arguing for some time, based on evidence from the World Drug Report, that the world drug problem is stabilizing. But containing the problem does not go far enough. If we are to reduce the number of people who are dependent on drugs, then more attention must be paid to drug prevention and treatment.

According to economic science, the greater the availability of a commodity on the market, the more likely its consumption (via the price effect, but also thanks to psychological factors). Does this only apply to normal markets? My Office has examined whether there is a statistical relationship between availability of drugs and their use, and reached the same conclusion.

Not everybody accepts the argument.

Inevitably in public meetings I have been asked:  how do you explain the fact that cannabis consumption is not higher in the Netherlands than in neighboring countries, although in the Netherlands cannabis is available in coffee shops? The issue has even evolved into a mini-cause celebre in some corners of the NGO and YouTube crowd .

Since UNODC is interested in examining evidence to support policy (we have done so in Australia, Japan and Sweden), I decided to go to Amsterdam to study its experience.

UNODC's crop surveys on coca, opium and cannabis are considered the gold standard for reliable data on the cultivation of illicit drugs. The same goes for our reports on monitoring verification of drug eradication.

It is sometimes forgotten that there are people behind these numbers - real heroes who are out in the field (on foot, camel, horse, motorcycle, and all terrain vehicle) talking to farmers, and measuring first hand how much coca or poppy is being grown.

From Morocco to Burma, from Afghanistan to Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia we have hundreds of specialists reporting, through UNODC, how the drug situation in evolving on the supply side.

When the UN Secretary-General recently visited the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV) he was impressed with the new "M" building (meeting facility) that has been generously given to the Vienna International Centre (VIC) by the host country. He was not only impressed by the modern look of the building, he praised its state-of-the-art environmentally friendly features - for example, sensors that adjust air temperature and flows depending on the number of people in the room, or the heating system that is based on steam produced from the city's incineration facility.

Being called the Office on "drugs and crime" is pretty sinister. It says what we are against, not what we are for. We are known as being the centre of the UN's fight against "uncivil society", and for battling the "dark side of globalization". But I would prefer to tell people what we are in favour of, namely security and justice for all.

On 17 March I took part in a Conference in Baghdad on good governance and anti-corruption, the first UN conference since the war. Over the three days I kept a diary which I want to share with you. The full text of my speech at the Conference is available here.

It is often forgotten that health is the first principle of drug policy. Improving security (against drug traffickers and dealers) and promoting development (to enable farmers to find sustainable alternatives to growing illicit crops) are necessary, but not sufficient, measures. Because even if you eliminate the world's entire supply of cannabis, coca, and opium, and even if you could seize all drugs in circulation, you would still have 25 million drug users looking for ways to satisfy their addiction. So the key to drug policy is reducing demand for drugs and treating addiction - and that is very much a health care issue.

My Office is not an adoption agency. But I urgently need to find parents for the "forgotten protocol" of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, namely the Protocol which deals with the illicit manufacturing of and trafficking in firearms.

Within Europe in recent years, a few influential pop stars and other fashion-conscious celebrities have been at the forefront of efforts to improve living standards in Africa. Bob Geldof's renowned Live Aid concerts and Bono's Drop the Debt campaign have been vital in raising political awareness and money to tackle the continent's economic crisis. Stopping the trade in blood diamonds and promoting fair trade with Africa have been two other favoured causes of the celebrity elite.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty caught up with Executive Director Costa on the sidelines of the UN-organized Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking in mid-February to discuss international efforts to combat "modern-day slavery." He told correspondent Eugen Tomiuc about the birth of the Global Initiative To Fight Human Trafficking (UN.GIFT) and the obstacles to more effective policing.

I was buoyed by the institutional impact, awareness building and policy pledges made in last week's Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking, all of which went beyond my expectations. Nevertheless, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and we will never end human trafficking until we change the way women are portrayed. I do not like to see women in burkas, nor do I appreciate seeing half-naked girls featured in provocative fashion ads, both of which may be a form of female exploitation.

The picture is all over the newspapers. British actress Emma Thompson with no shoes on, sitting on the podium of the Austrian Parliament.

For those of us who witnessed this performance, it deserved an Oscar. She ran about, cried, tore out her hair - waking up an audience of sleepy parliamentarians with a moving monologue from the perspective of a trafficking victim. It was a spectacle never seen before in such hallowed halls. The mock trial that followed kept the audience glued to their seats.

Can you think of a region so poor that income is less than one dollar a day per person: that has gone through a war against the central government for 30 years (1975-2005); that in 2004 was submerged by a tidal wave (the tsunami) that killed 170,000 people out of a total population of 3 million (in other words 1 person out of every 20); that was later submerged by an avalanche of assistance personnel that pushed local prices beyond what locals could afford?

What a strange twist of fate that former Indonesian President Suharto, who had been under investigation for corruption, was buried on the same morning as the opening of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption that is taking place this week in Bali. But it is no coincidence that the meeting is being hosted by Indonesia. Indonesia is taking great strides to tackle corruption - a cancer that is regarded by the new President as "public enemy number one".

As I am sure you are aware the Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking is now only weeks away.

I recently met with Ruslana Lyzhychko, the Ukrainian pop singer, dancer, producer, composer, social activist and former parliamentarian. Ruslana's active involvement in the anti-human trafficking cause led her to contact my office and generously offer her help.

I have just returned from the gas-rich Central Asian country of Turkmenistan.

Under its new President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow, this once secretive country is opening up to the world.

Since it is located along one of the biggest opium trafficking routes from Afghanistan to the West, Turkmenistan has been feeling the effects of drugs and crime along its borders.

Posted: 10 January 2008

On 7 December I made a speech to a rather unusual audience - the Drug Policy Alliance, most of whom are in favour of legalizing drugs. It was a rather raucous affair with a few boos but more applause than expected.