Posted on 09/26/2005 8:13:24 AM PDT by Freebird Forever
Afghanistan urgently needs to legalise its massive opium crop, which supplies most of the world's heroin, to avoid becoming a narco-state and to fund reconstruction, a think-tank said here.
The recommendations were part of a study released by The Senlis Council at a conference in the Kabul to push for the destitute nation to legalise opium production and channel the crop into the manufacture of legal painkillers.
Afghanistan produces about 87 percent of the world's supply of opium.
The council, a Paris-based body of politicians, experts and academics, said the current policy of trying to eradicate the fields of poppies that yield opium, which makes up about half of Afghanistan's income, was a costly failure.
The policy had little impact while demonising Afghan farmers and destroying "a valuable natural resource rather than turning it into a powerful driver for economic development," the study said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Limbaugh must be thrilled beyond belief.
My back's killing me.
They should institute the same farm subsidy program we have, with the land bank. Pay them to NOT grow poppies.........works here..........
If its primary source of revenue is opium, and its regional leaders derive their power from opium, it is already a narco-state. Legalizing it only makes it de jure instead of de facto.
They'd probably take the money and still grow the poppies. Or someone else in their tribe would do it for them.
Very smart. They are entirely correct. American drug policy is effecting our national security. This is unconsciounable.
My late grandfather was paid (60's) to Not grow corn, Not grow cotten, and Not grow soybeans. He didn't tell them he was retired..............
It largely removes the need for para-military support by taking the trade above the table, which makes the little petty tyrants superfluous -- and broke.
The money they made "protecting" the growers is the source of paying the troops that end up supporting the taliban, et al.
It would be a lot cheaper to simply buy the entire crop at wholesale prices (e.g. $2 billion), then distribute it for legitimate worldwide medical use.
It's the middlemen, the Pakistani ISI, al Qaeda, the Chechnyans and other outlaws who benefit from the *illicit* opium and heroin markets.
Last I read, the "don't grow opium" pricing was too low to incentivize the farmers.
With Viox and other NSAIDs off the market, there is a need for more effective pain relief. Third world countries need cheaper forms of pain relief. Opiates are presently over-demonized. With regulated dosage, people can function productively. The odd and miraculous thing about opiates is that when pain is present, they relieve the pain better than any known medication and do not make the person "high".
I will assume there was some sarcasm in that comment..
It is a Federal Offense to grow opium poppies in the US..
It has only been a couple of years ago that some little old lady got into major trouble for growing a few plants, having no idea what they were..
We ( the US ) do not pay anyone here not to grow poppies..
We ( the US ) throw them in jail..
We subsidize corn, we get more corn!
We subsidize wheat, we get more wheat!
We subsidize poor people, we get more poor people!...........
Let's subsidize Republicans!..........oops! we are..........
I recall them as "soil bank" subsidies...
And some farmers made good money from "not" growing crops on that land..
It was also very good for pheasant hunting in the fall..
Pheasant hunting subsidies, I could maybe support..
Or Duck hunting..
Yeah, we called them "land bank" in the South......
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