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No supply = ex-drug addicts. When Afghanistan is closed, so is the drug store.

That is a sanguine prospect. So there is hope. I hate despair. Russia needs a dose of hope. I want it for them. Just think of the outstanding physical resources they have. What if they actually took their place alongside the whirring economies of the world, and contributed to the world's standard of living. That's how it should be. John Lennon should have "imagined" that.

The "Afghanistan" you're speaking of is the part controlled by our new friends, the "Northern Alliance." In the Taliban-controlled areas there was an unprecedented drop in opium cultivation this last year, which even the communists were never able to accomplish.

You're also not factoring in different Central Asian countries, our other new friends, to cultivate opium on their own. There's no reason why it has to be grown in just Afghanistan. The entire Central Asian region from Tajikistan to Afghanistan to Iran to Turkey, is all capable of producing many tons of the drug. That's millions of square miles of territory.

No supply = ex-drug addicts. When Afghanistan is closed, so is the drug store.

Nope, sorry. But thanks for playing.

If Afghanistan's poppy production shuts down, someone else will easily pick up the slack. If it costs them more to do it, they'll just past the cost onto the "consumer". As long as their is a demand, someone will always supply. So if you want to lower hard drug use, you need to address the demanders (And no, the answer isn't "Lock all drug users up forever". We need those jails for actual criminals, like rapists and murderers.)

I imagine that the Russians wouldn't have such a drug use problem if their society and economy wasn't such a wreck right now. Instead of relying on the "eyes wide shut" tactics of the War on Drugs, maybe we should actually be helping the Russians to help themselves. Partner with them to more effectively exploit their resources (which they still have a LOT of), help them get out from under the grip of the Russian Mafia, and just make their quality of life a lot better.

When their situation isn't so atrocious, I'm sure THAT will have a much more tangible effect on their hard drug use than substance interdiction ever could have. You take their opium away, and someone will introduce a NEW drug into the equation. The only way a "War On Drugs" style campaign could ever be won is to exist in a facist police state.

Of course, some people here would prefer to live in a facist police state. The burden of freedom with responsibility and free thought are too much for them sometimes ;-)