UNITED NATIONS, October 21 – Afghanistan-grown poppies fuel a $65bn heroin and opium market that feeds 15m addicts, with Europe, Russia and Iran consuming half the supply, a UN report showed on Wednesday.

Afghanistan produces 92 per cent of the world’s opium, a thick paste from poppy used to make heroin, and the equivalent of 3,500 tons of opium is trafficked out of Afghanistan every year, said the UN Office on Drugs and Crime report.