Afghan opium hits recod production

Karlin

Council Member
Jun 27, 2004
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http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/081606S.shtml

Have Canadian troops made opium growing a safer occupation in Afghanistan?

The New York Times reported that Afghan opium production has hit record levels - up by more than 40 percent from 2005.

370,650 acres of opium poppy was cultivated this season - up from 257,000 acres in 2005. The previous record was 323,700 acres in 2004,

50, 000 more acres than ever before. So far, only the dreaded Taliban has been able to keep it down.

Opium cultivation has surged since the ouster of the Taliban in late 2001. The former regime enforced an effective ban on poppy growing by threatening to jail farmers - virtually eradicating the crop in 2000.

[there is] continuing corruption among provincial officials and police

So we go in there with our military "to wipe out terrorism at its source", "to take it to them so we don't have to fight them at home", and of course to help the locals, to gain their trust, to tell young men "Don't become terrorists".

And we did help the poppy growers have a safe place to operate from. Without the Taliban in power, I suppose it would have happened anyhow that they grew poppies.

Canadian military spokemen said Canadian troops "would not be eradicating poppies". Good move. but it is conflicted because some poppy money goes to terrorists. But less and less if the farmers can keep it for themselves, they would prefer that.

There is less chance that the Taliban would ever gain power again if the poppy growers prosper. This helps our cause, if keeping Taliban down is going to keep us safer at home. Also, Taliban are wretched human rights abusers, and we should get involved for that reason alone, I think.

Legalising the poppy crop - 90% of the world's opium comes from Afghanistan - would allow the farmers more security, there would be less corruption and less killings over opium. People really do depend on the heroin that Afghan poppies are made into, a lot of the time it is truly self-medicating.

I would like to see the prohibition of opiate-type drugs taken off. It would help Afghanistan. Afghanistan laws, Canadian laws [USA no hope of change] should both be changed to repeal the prohibition, and then tax it and sell it in a controoled way at less than street prices. This "war on drugs" has failed to make drugs go away, it has gone on long enough.

Would it make YOU run out and take some heroin just because it is legal? - NAWWWW, its not such a dangerous move to repeal opiate prohibition.

Not as dangerous as prohibition iteself has proven to be.