VZCZCXYZ0018
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSQ #0554/01 3221354
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 181354Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8683

UNCLAS SKOPJE 000554 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM MK
SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: 2009-2010 INSCR PART I 
 
REF: SECSTATE 97228 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
1) Macedonia is neither a major producer nor a major regional 
transit point for illicit drugs. The Government of Macedonia (GOM) 
continues to make progress in combating drug trafficking, evidenced 
by the fact that illicit drug seizures in Macedonia increased during 
the first nine months of 2009. Macedonian law enforcement 
authorities cooperated with regional counterparts, including Serbia, 
Bulgaria, and Turkey. The lack of an authorized drug enforcement 
agency in Kosovo has somewhat hindered Macedonia's cooperation with 
its newest neighbor, but the Macedonian Ministry of Interior (MOI) 
works with third-country representatives in Kosovo on 
counternarcotics operations. There have been significant 
improvements in interagency coordination compared to the previous 
year, resulting in only a small number of operational problems due 
to lack of coordination. Macedonia is a party to the 1988 UN Drug 
Convention. 
 
Status of Country 
----------------- 
 
2) Macedonia is one of several Balkan drug routes used to deliver 
Afghan heroin (through Turkey and Bulgaria) to Western Europe. 
Hashish and marijuana produced in Albania travel along the same 
Macedonian routes to Turkey and Greece. Synthetic drugs on the 
Macedonian market are smuggled in from neighboring Bulgaria and 
Serbia and also from the Netherlands. Illegal commercial marijuana 
is cultivated in fields in northwest Macedonia, while small amounts 
of marijuana is cultivated for personal use in southern Macedonia, 
where the climate is favorable. According to government sources, 
there was no production of precursor chemicals or synthetic drugs, 
nor illicit drug production facilities of significance in Macedonia. 
According to MOI sources, trafficking in synthetic drugs remained at 
a similarly low level to 2008. Seizures, however, were significantly 
higher this year. Macedonia produced licit poppy straw and poppy 
straw concentrate on approximately 500 hectares of its territory, 
but in quantities insufficient for the country's pharmaceuticals 
industry. As a result, some poppy straw was imported under license. 
 
Country Actions against Drugs in 2008 
------------------------------------- 
 
4) Macedonia's National Anti-drug Strategy, approved in 2006, was 
followed in May 2007 by a National Action Plan for implementing that 
strategy, which in turn was succeeded by the current 2008-2012 
Action plan for implementation. A 2008 Law on Control of Narcotic 
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances improved drug enforcement efforts 
and interagency cooperation, which resulted in an increase in 
seizures and better cooperation between Customs officials and 
agencies. 
 
5) According to MOI statistics, in the first nine months of 2009, 
criminal charges were brought against 359 persons (268 for Jan-Sept 
2008)-a total of 91 more cases then in the same period of 2008. Of 
these persons charged, 288 were cases of illicit drug trafficking, 
including 21 cases in the largest prison in the country. In 2009, 
police seizures of illicit drugs increased significantly compared to 
the previous year. MOI sources claim that Macedonia, especially the 
northwestern areas, continues to be used as a wholesale drug depot. 
The Macedonian MOI has significantly improved cooperation and 
communication with its counterparts in Austria, Bulgaria, Serbia, 
and Turkey. MOI sources and intelligence contributed to the seizure 
of 111 kilograms of heroin in Bulgaria, resulting in the arrests of 
three people, and the seizure of 16 kilograms of heroin in Serbia. 
The Macedonian MOI has cooperated on two successful controlled 
deliveries in Turkey, and a Macedonian-led initiative resulted in 
the bust of a group of dealers in Austria and a conviction of 14 
people. 
 
6) The MOI reported the following quantities of drugs and 
psychotropic substances seized in the first nine months of 2009 
(2008 figures are also Jan-Sept): 
Heroin: 112 kilograms (26.1 kg in 2008); 
Marijuana: 720kg (10.6 kg in 2007); Cannabis: 403 plants (268 plants 
the previous year); 
Hashish: 123 grams (30 grams in 2008); 
Ecstasy: 2618 pills (290 pills seized in 2008) 
 
7) Customs Administration continued to strengthen its intelligence 
units and mobile teams. Police officials claimed cooperation with 
their Customs colleagues significantly improved compared to past 
years. 
 
8) Corruption is widespread in Macedonia, with low salaries 
fostering graft among law enforcement officials and the judiciary, 
which remains weak. As a matter of policy and practice, the 
Government of the Republic of Macedonia does not encourage or 
facilitate the illicit production or distribution of drugs, or the 
laundering of proceeds from illegal drug transactions. 
 
9) Macedonia is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, the 1961 
Single Convention as amended by the 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 
Convention on Psychotropic Substances. A 1902 Extradition Treaty 
between the United States and Serbia, applies to Macedonia as a 
successor state of the former Yugoslavia. Macedonia is a party to 
the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its 
protocols against trafficking in persons, migrant smuggling, and 
trafficking in illicit firearms. In April 2007 Macedonia acceded to 
the UN Convention against Corruption. 
 
10) Macedonia is neither a major cultivator nor producer of illicit 
narcotics. There are no reports of local illicit production or 
refining of heroin or illegal synthetic drugs. Only one 
pharmaceutical company in the country was authorized to licitly 
cultivate and process poppy for medicines. Authorized poppy 
production, some 500 hectares in 2009, is monitored by the Ministry 
of Health, which shares production data regularly with the 
Vienna-based International Narcotics Control Board. Illicit 
marijuana cultivation in southeast Macedonia continued mostly for 
personal consumption. However, in 2009, MOI officials noted a new 
trend in northwest Macedonia, where the illicit cultivation of 
marijuana is occurring in greenhouses and fields for sale on both 
the domestic and foreign markets. 
 
11) Macedonia is on the southern branch of the Balkan Route used to 
ship Afghan heroin to the western European consumer market. The 
quantity of synthetic narcotics trafficked to Macedonia in 2009 
probably remained the same, judging by the stability of the street 
price. Most synthetic drugs aimed at the Macedonian market 
originated in Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Netherlands, and arrived in 
small amounts by vehicle. 
 
12) Official Macedonian statistics regarding drug abuse and 
addiction are unreliable, but they are improving with the opening of 
the National Center, triggered by efforts to reach European 
standards in narcotics control policies. Ministry of Health 
officials estimated there were some 9,000 drug users in the country. 
The most frequently used drug was marijuana, followed by heroin. 
There were an estimated 600 or fewer cocaine users in the country in 
2009, according to official sources. Treatment and rehabilitation 
activities are carried out in eleven state-run outpatient medical 
clinics for drug users. These clinics supervise methadone 
maintenance therapy for registered heroin addicts. One of the eleven 
centers is located in the largest prison in the country (with over 
60 percent of the country's total prisoner population). Of the 1,500 
prisoners in the country's main prison, an estimated 380 were 
identified as drug addicts, mainly addicted to heroin. Macedonian 
health officials acknowledged that rehabilitation centers were 
overcrowded. In-patient treatment in specialized facilities 
consisted of detoxification accompanied by medicinal/vitamin 
therapy, as well as limited family therapy, counseling and social 
work. Follow-up services after detoxification, or social 
reintegration programs for treated drug abusers were inadequate. 
There were only three centers for social reintegration and 
rehabilitation. 
 
U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
------------------------------------ 
 
13) During 2009, DEA agents worked with the Macedonian police to 
support coordination of regional counternarcotics efforts. Financial 
police, Customs officers, prosecutors, and judges continued to 
receive USG-funded training in anti-organized crime operations and 
techniques. USG representatives continued to provide training, 
technical advice, equipment, and other assistance to Macedonian 
Customs and MOI Border Police units. 
 
14) Macedonia's porous borders, and the influence of regional 
narcotics trafficking groups, will continue to make the country an 
attractive secondary route for the transit of illegal drugs. The 
United States Government, through law enforcement training programs, 
will continue to work to strengthen the ability of Macedonian 
police, prosecutors and judges to monitor, arrest, prosecute, and 
sanction narcotics traffickers. In cooperation with EU and other 
international community partners, the U.S. will press for continued 
successful implementation of the national counternarcotics action 
plan. USG law enforcement training agencies in Macedonia will 
encourage the preparation of new laws to strengthen the ability of 
prosecutors to successfully pursue counternarcotics cases. The USG 
will continue to work with the GOM and international partners to 
strengthen Macedonia's criminal intelligence system, and to improve 
the government's ability to provide reliable statistics on drug use, 
arrests, prosecutions, and convictions of traffickers. 
NAVRATIL