Vienna  - A United Nations meeting to discuss policies for tackling the global drug problem in the coming decade began Wednesday in Vienna against the backdrop of limited progress over the last 10 yeras.

The high-level meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs is set to adopt an action plan Thursday that calls on countries to find a better balance between measures to curb supply and demand, for example by strengthening health care services.

UN goals adopted in 1998 to significantly reduce drug supply and demand by 2008 "have been attained only to a limited extent," the draft of the action plan said.

Among the delegates at the conference was Bolivian President Evo Morales, who was expected to outline his country's policy of allowing farming of coca leaves, while fighting cocaine producers and traffickers.

On Tuesday, the European Commission issued a report that painted a bleak picture of global drug policy, saying it had "no more than a marginal positive influence" in the past decade.

Despite increased anti-drug efforts, drug prices have fallen by up to 30 per cent in Western countries since 1998, while opium production in Afghanistan has increased sharply since 2006, the report said. (dpa)