THE World Cup is a hugely lucrative event, which will attract business people from across the spectrum. These include people who make profits from the illicit drug industry.

The 2010 soccer World Cup may see more snorting than kicking and this is evident from the number of people that have been apprehended by the Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) this year alone.

Drug trafficking always increases with big events, but it might become even more difficult to resist the temptation during the frenzy of next year's FIFA World Cup soccer championship in June in South Africa.

In 2007, Zambia had recorded a decline in the number of people arrested for drug offences compared to the previous year but today, it is a gateway and transit point for drugs going to South Africa and Angola respectively as these countries are on the world map because of the World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations respectively, which they wil host.

DEC public relations and liaison officer John Nyawali says there has been an increase in the number of people arrested in connection with drug trafficking this year because of these two events scheduled for next year.

On the other hand, considering that South Africa and Angola are perceived as being among Africa's economic powerhouses, drug barons worldwide are eyeing the hosting of these events in order to make profits from the illicit drug peddling.

Fueled by rapid urbanisation and economic hardships, drug trafficking has increased substantially, luring some Zambians mostly youths in search of quick money. The DEC says trafficking has multiplied more than a thousand times in the past.

Young people from different communities might see these people as role models and become 'runners' for them in the hope of going up in the ranks, eventually lifting themselves out of poverty.The World Cup is not only an exciting opportunity for soccer fans.

In dispossessed communities, jobs are scarce. The drug industry seems like a way out. The kingpins are often those who seem to have made it - they drive around in big cars and live in big houses.

"It is of concern to us that the open-air screening of matches will attract thousands of spectators where drug barons will grab the opportunity to sell drugs.

"Just in this month alone (November) we arrested three more Angolans at the Ndola International Airport for trafficking in 249 pellets of pure grade cocaine weighing over 2.87 kilograms, bringing the number of nationals from that country who have been arrested in this month for the same offence to five. This is the biggest seizure this year," he says.

Mr Nyawali says investigations have shown that the increase in trans-national drug trafficking activities were being championed by an international and local cartel of drug barons who wanted to take advantage of the African cup of nations in Angola and World Cup in South Africa, respectively.

However, DEC says additional operational measures have been put in place to ensure that drug trafficking activities around the region are cut off and not even a single gram finds its way onto the market.

Mr Nyawali disclosed that the seizure at Ndola International Airport was the biggest this year and that DEC has intensified checks at all airports and other entry points to ensure that security was being tightened so that Zambia was not used as a transit point or consumer of illicit drugs.

According to Mr Nyawali, drug trafficking problems first came into the public attention in Zambia in 1985 when some 25 well-known Zambians were detained on charges of trafficking and this saw the formation of a tribunal to investigate the charges.

"It was from this tribunal that we noticed that something had gone wrong with the economy and the people were using drugs and still are to get quicker money to buy motor vehicles and other luxury goods," says Mr Nyawali.

Cannabis, grown in the country, tops the list of illicit drugs. DEC is dealing with the problem through a cannabis eradication programme and crop substitution for peasant farmers dependent on it. Other drugs that have become known on the Zambian market include heroin, hashish, cocaine and mandrax.

Also known as methaqualone, mandrax is smuggled from the Indian sub-continent, and is such a hot commodity that it is used as a medium of exchange for goods and services. It is exchanged for groceries and other household goods in South Africa, which are then transported to Zambia.

An increasing number of Zambians are arrested for trafficking, of whom the majority of couriers are women every year.

A concerned soccer fan, Lovemore Sibanda says soccer events and drug abuse are inseparable considering the excitement that surrounds such events.

When asked on what measures could be put in place to ensure that the event in free from drug abuse, Mr Sibanda says the fight against drug trafficking and drug abuse can not be won overnight adding that fighting drug trafficking needs the commitment from the whole world not only South Africa alone.

"South Africa is not the only place where drug trafficking and abuse is rife. This is a global problem which needs global action to fight it," he says.

South Africa is already a drug trafficking transit route from South America to Asia and it has now become a lucrative market for drug cartels operating regionally.

Illicit drug cultivation, processing, trafficking and abuse are on the rise in Africa. Although in global terms the problem is insignificant, it is threatening to add another impediment to the continent's development efforts.

If the trend continues, Africa could be faced with a major drug crisis. While the main drugs produced in Africa are cannabis and khat, narcotic drugs, specifically heroin and cocaine, are penetrating sub-Saharan Africa, which serves principally as a transit route between Asian suppliers and Western consumers.

Developing countries are often ill-equipped and undermanned to provide the social services for treatment and rehabilitation of drug abusers that only industrialised states can afford. Thus, argue experts, the huge costs of managing a drug crisis and the serious damage it can cause to Africa and Zambia in particular demand stringent preventive measures.

However, United Nations Office on Drug Control (UNODC) Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa stressed in the World Drug Report 2009 that law enforcement should shift its focus from drug users to drug traffickers and sufficient medical assistance should be provided to people who take drugs.

"Drug courts and medical assistance are more likely to build healthier and safer societies than incarceration", the report notes.

It further recommends that more attention should be given to urban slums that are key places for drug deals and crime.

According to Mr Costa, "the problem can only be solved by addressing the problem of slums and dereliction in our cities, through renewal of infrastructures and investment in people especially by assisting the youth, who are vulnerable to drugs and crime, with education, jobs and sport. Ghettos do not create junkies and the jobless, it is often the other way around."

Furthermore, he recommends the ratification of the various international agreements against organised crime, trafficking and corruption and calls on countries to develop new international arrangements for money laundering and cybercrime and to take real actions in fighting these practices.