U.N. war on drugs seen failing to curb abuse.

A United Nations drive to cut supply and demand for illegal drugs has shown no progress globally in the decade since it was started, a European Commission report said on Tuesday.

The report came on the eve of a ministerial-level meeting by the U.N. Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna to review the decade since a U.N. General Assembly session (UNGASS) set the targets and launched the war on drugs.

Papering over internal dissent, U.N. members are expected to sign a declaration re-committing themselves to fighting drug trafficking for another 10 years.

The European Commission report said enforcing drug bans had backfired by displacing drugs traffickers to relatively lawless regions. The ban had led to addicts sharing needles -- spreading disease -- as syringe-exchange centers have been unavailable.

The European Commission report said enforcing drug bans had backfired by displacing drugs traffickers to relatively lawless regions. The ban had led to addicts sharing needles -- spreading disease -- as syringe-exchange centers have been unavailable.

"(We have) found no evidence that the global drug problem was reduced during the UNGASS period from 1998 to 2007."

"Broadly speaking the situation has improved a little in some of the richer countries while for others it worsened, and for some it worsened sharply and substantially, among them a few large developing or transitional countries."

"In other words, the world drugs situation seems to be more or less in the same state as in 1998," the report by the 27-nation European Union's executive body said.

"There is little evidence that controls can reduce total global production ... (or) for trafficking. Production and trafficking controls only redistributed activities. Enforcement against local markets failed in most countries."

The report said prices for illegal drugs had dropped by 10 to 30 percent.

"Cannabis use has become a part of adolescent development in many Western countries. In Australia, Switzerland and the United States, about half of everyone born since 1980 will have tried the drug by age 21," it said.

"Only a few individuals in the trafficking, smuggling and wholesale sectors make great fortunes (and) that accounts for a small share of the total income," the report said.

"Markets for illegal drugs are mostly competitive, not vertically integrated or dominated by major dealers or cartels. Ties to terrorism and armed insurrection are important but only in a few places, such as Afghanistan and Colombia," it said.

The report was based on research in 18 states -- Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.