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How Opium Can Save Afghanistan
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Ahmad Masood/Reuters
America's drug war in Afghanistan has been a miserable failure. So why not legalize opium production and let Afghanistan become the Saudi Arabia of morphine?
Afghanistan may be one the poorest countries in the world, but by legalizing and licensing opium production it could conceivably become the Saudi Arabia of morphine.
It is a measure of just how great a failure the counter-narcotics strategy in Afghanistan has been that, after six consecutive years of record growth in poppy production, including a staggering 20 percent increase last year alone, American and U.N. officials are actually patting themselves on the back over a 6 percent decline in 2008. “We are finally seeing the results of years of effort,” said Antonio Maria Costa, who heads the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime.
Only the Taliban has ever managed to significantly reduce opium production in the country a feat managed by executing anyone caught growing poppies.
Yet this meager decline has almost nothing to do with international eradication efforts and everything to do with the law of supply and demand. As The New York Times reported in November, the Taliban have begun forcibly curbing poppy production and stockpiling opium in order to boost prices, which had fallen sharply due to a glut in the market. Indeed, Afghanistan has produced so much opium—between 90 to 95 percent of the world’s supply—that prices have dropped nearly 20 percent.
The truth is that the poppy eradication effort in Afghanistan, which consists mostly of hacking away at poppy fields with sticks and sickles, or spraying them from above with deadly herbicides, has been nothing short of a disaster. All this policy has managed to achieve (excluding that vaunted 6 percent decrease) is to alienate the Afghan people, fuel support for the Taliban, and further weaken the government of president Hamid Karzai, whose own brother has been linked to the illegal opium trade. Meanwhile, poppy cultivation is now such an entrenched part of Afghanistan's economy that in some parts of the country, opium is considered legal tender, replacing cash in day-to-day transactions.
In spite of all this, the U.S. State Department is planning to expand its crop eradication campaign. Last year, President Bush tapped the former ambassador to Columbia, William Wood, to become U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. Wood, whose nickname in Columbia was “Chemical Bill,” because of his enthusiasm for aerial fumigation, has been charged with implementing in Afghanistan the same crop eradication program that—despite five billion dollars and hundreds of tons of chemicals—has had little effect on Colombia's coca production.
It is time to admit that the struggle to end poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is a losing battle. The fact is that opium has long been Afghanistan’s sole successful export. Poppy seeds cost little to buy, can grow pretty much anywhere, and offer a huge return on a farmer’s investment. Only the Taliban has ever managed to significantly reduce opium production in the country (as it did during its late-1990s rule)—a feat managed by executing anyone caught growing poppies. It is no exaggeration to say that we have a better chance of defeating the Taliban than putting a dent in Afghanistan’s opium trade. So then, as the saying goes: if you can’t beat them, join them.
The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS), a policy think-tank with offices in London and Kabul, has proposed abandoning the futile eradication efforts in Afghanistan and instead licensing farmers to legally grow poppies for the production of medical morphine. This so-called “Poppy for Medicine” program is not as crazy as it may sound. Similar programs have already proven successful in Turkey and India, both of which were able to bring the illegal production of opium in their countries under control by licensing, regulating, and taxing poppy cultivation. And there is every reason to believe that the program could work even in a fractured country like Afghanistan. This is because the entire production process—from poppies to pills—would occur inside the village under strict control of village authorities, which, in Afghanistan, often trump the authority of the federal government. Licensed farmers would legally plant and cultivate poppy seeds. Factories built in the villages would transform the poppies into morphine tablets. The tablets would then be shipped off to Kabul, where they would be exported to the rest of the world. These rural village communities would experience significant economic development, and tax revenues would stream into Kabul. (The Taliban, which taxes poppy cultivation under their control at 10 percent, made $300 million dollars last year.)
The global demand for poppy-based medicine is as great as it is for oil. According to the International Narcotics Control Board, 80 percent of the world’s population currently faces a shortage of morphine; morphine prices have skyrocketed as a result. The ICOS estimates that Afghanistan could supply this market with all the morphine it needs, and at a price at least 55 percent lower than the current market average.
Thus far, the Bush Administration has balked at this idea, despite a warm reception from the Afghan government and some NATO allies. There is a fear in Washington that such a proposal would contradict America’s avowed “war on drugs.” But the opium crisis in Afghanistan is not a drug enforcement problem, it is a national security issue: Licensing and regulating poppy cultivation would not only create stability and economic development, it could sap support for the Taliban and help win the war in Afghanistan.
So which will it be? The War on Drugs? Or the War on Terror? When it comes to Afghanistan, we can only choose one.
Reza Aslan is a fellow at the University of Southern California’s Center on Public Diplomacy, Middle East analyst for CBS News, and a featured blogger for Anderson Cooper 360. He wrote the New York Times bestseller No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. Aslan is co-founder and creative director of BoomGen Studios as well as the editorial executive of Mecca.com.
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The reason legalization worked in India and Turkey was precisely that they had strong central governments to administer their programs. Afghanistan has no such government. President Karzai struggles under the cloud of suspicions that his own circle of supporters includes drug/war lords.
A magic wand won't solve this. The poppy/dirty money/arms nexus moves from failed state to failed state, a government unto itself. Until Afghanistan develops a more robust government, opium cultivation will continue to be it's largest export.
Why are there no comments, this is a great idea. How come I haven't heard of the "successful" programs in Turkey and India? I smell coverup, idealogue based coverup. It's about time the war on drugs got smart, or is this just another neocon program to justify meddling in other countries and building more penitenturies in the US?
It would be a whole lot easier to just grab control of the industry like we did with Tobacco (nicotine), Coffee (caffeine) and Alcohol (alcohol) and make some legal money off of them in the process.
I suspect there is some sort of religious logic behind keeping the drug use and distribution laws the way they are but really, why not reduce the pain and cost and get ourselves focused on something that will actually make a difference like education?
Just a thought, maybe our insidious leaders are protecting the Alcohol, coffee and tobacco industries by making their potential competitors illegal.
unlike politicians, the man above speaks the truth.
Sounds like a great idea.and just in time for the great depression when well really need it.
A very good idea. But remember that American farmers can not even grow hemp, because it is related to marijuana. tiny minds run the drug war. Tiny, unimaginative paper pushers always run these programs.
Send this to Obama on his web site.
Don't look now, but you know that thing about legalizing and licensing morphine? It's already legal and licensed. The last time I was in the hospital, they hooked me up to a pump, and every time I wanted some morphine, I pressed a button, and it dispensed analgesia.
There was a computer hooked to the pump, not a golly-gee-whiz computer, but a computer none the less, that kept track of how many times I'd pressed the button lately, and it wouldn't let me have more morphine than the nurse had programmed into the computer.
It was wonderful. Normally, when you are starting to feel pain, you hold off, trying to be the good little patient, and then it gets worse, and you press the nurse button, and the nurse shows up fifteen minutes later, and you tell her you need a pain shot, and then she goes back and checks your chart, and gets interrupted by fifteen other patients because the hospital is understaffed, and she tries to decide whether you're being a baby or she should give you the shot, and by the time she actually gives you the shot, you're in pretty severe pain, and it takes a little bit to work, during which time the pain gets even worse, and because of all this, you stress out the next time you need pain med, and the stress makes the pain even worse.
The doctor told me that if you can give yourself a shot when you need it, you actually end up needing less pain med at the same time that you feel more comfortable - and you heal faster as a consequence.
I don't know who invented that pump, but when he goes to the Pearly Gates, I hope he is met by a brass band. If I'm dead when he kicks the bucket, and we both go to heaven or both go to hell, I hope to be there to shake his hand and thank him - but I suspect I'll have to wait in a LONG line of people to do that.
While I see the sensibility in this proposal,I think the post from "Rhyzome" sums up best its inherent problems.
You write that "the entire production process...would occur...under strict control of village authorities,which, in Afghanistan, often trump the authority of the federal government." So what would happen if/when different production regions do not agree on issues like licensing, regulating and taxing the poppy crops? Who would act as the final arbiter of such issues where there is no strong central government.? And, with so much money to be made in the sales of morphine, couldn't this set up a situation where the "fracturing" of the populace is made worse due to competing economic interests? I'm not trying to be unduly negative, I'm just trying to imagine the logistics of your proposal.
And HarlDelos--
Mr. Aslan's piece is discussing the legalization and licensing of the production of opium, not who is licensed to legally dispense/administer it (as was the person who filled the syringe and set it up in the PCA pump that helped you so much). Just wanted to point out that distinction.
And p.s.--Glad you had the pump when you needed it. They're very good things.
Pleased to see someone addressing this issue... I've known this for years. We'll never win the "war on terror" as long as the "drug war" continues (the armies and chaos in Mexico and South America; are building day by day, making AlQueda look like a picnic).
Furthermore, the drug war is an EXTREME violation to the Rule of Law, and only the establishment of the rule of law can stop terrorism. Hypocrits! How can you claim to support liberty when you deny another the right to grow a plant on his land, or the right to consume what one chooses? Any wonder why eye destroyed the towers on 9.11? Infidels!
Anyone remember?.. that in the Book of Ezra, God commands him to go into a field and eat only flowers... which brings about visions... is the connection of entheogens with mystical experience not obvious to you?
You have provoked me unto wrath, and despised my counsels.
If you support the "drug war," you are an infidel, an enemy of God, and the true Republic. Stop waisting oxygen, do us all a favor, hurry up and kill yourselves... burn kafir, burn! End the drug war and establish the true Rule of Law, or eye shall continue to send armies and terrorists against you. Eye shall destroy your economies and turn your people against the leadership. Eye shall pit brother against brother and nation against nation; since, ultimately, all, but a few, are worthy.
Just Say Know, Let the Poppies Grow!
An'al Haq
Actually, this suggestion has been around for years, I remember seeing it presented in a newspaper editorial, and noted because it seems like such a neat idea. I'm curious, in all this time the proposal has been floated, has the US Government articulated an objection as far as anyone knows?
Why even bother to make morphine out of it? Somebody tell me why the US Government does not just buy the damned stuff anyway? Even if it means burning it in a big heap? How much money does the military effort cost? How much money has been spent in the various ' wars on...' so far? How much does it cost to keep one battalion of combat troops in Afghanistan, with all the vast logistical and support services required? Compared to the value of the opium poppy crop?
Can anybody in the US government do arithmetic?
War on drugs? It is lost!
Has anybody in the entire government the political courage to face up to the truth ?
You know, perhaps now there is one man who might.
Agreed. Why should Al Quaeda be the only ones who can make smart & low-tech work? Though it is a little late in the day to declare War on Stupid. We might have pulled off the deal-making straight after the original push, when the Taliban was on the back foot and people were open to persuasion. Now we have far fewer friends in the area and far less leverage. Still, are you suggesting this as an alternative to more surging, shooting, bombing, killing, maiming and dying? I'm in.
I , TOO, NEEDED IT WHEN IN PAIN.......I THINK I WOULD HAVE DIED WITHOUT THAT RELIEF....!
BUT THERE WILL ALWAYS BE 'CROOKS' AND DO WE WANT 'OPEN' BORDERS AND FREEDOM TO USE........
THERE WOULD BE, YOU KNOW -- ABUSE -- MORE THAN NOW.......
IT WOULD BE A 'DUMMING DOWN ' OF NOT ONLY AMERICA - BUT THE HUMAN RACE......
AND WOULD THIS REALLY BENEFIT AMERICA OR JUST ISLAM?
The suggestion is worthwhile to try. Corruption could render it useless. What would absolutely work is for us to repeal drug prohibition in the U.S. Legalize regulate and tax all drugs.End the drug war and put the terrorists out of business or at least cause them to find another source of funding. We have 5% of the worlds population and use 60% of the drugs.
According to Prof. Miron of Harvard, we could boost our economy by $76.8 billion the first year that we ended drug prohibition. See his report at www.wecandoitagain.com
We will never arrest, burn, chop, or poison our way out of drug production. We have pissed away a trillion dollars on this drug war and have nothing to show for it.
Canada is at least using some smarts in donating wheat seeds and teaching farmers in Afghanistan how to grow wheat. We are chopping down poppy fields.
Tim Datig, LEAP Speaker www.leap.cc
Not only have we lost the drug war- the terrorists have succeeded conducting mini acts of domestic terrorism that collectively are huge and extremely damaging to our quality of life.
There is too much opium supply and it's so cheap that users can hide their habit for long periods especially in the case of children. The product is so strong the habit is impossible to abandon. The adult professional user is doing just about anything to get your kid - including "mothers" participating in after school fights deep in suburbia.
We are loosing significant parts of our youth to debilitating addiction. Users will resort to anything for the buzz including mixing other drugs like crack, oxycontin - the mixing and the strength result in immediate mental illness. Oh yeah, then there's the $10 trick. Viagra has provided the perfect John.
Last year while visiting the UK - my 80 year old mother readily spotted and identified the users in her native city, her family confirmed she was right. I hear Spain is the hot spot.
The world is in trouble and something needs to CHANGE. If use here were legalized here at least the user could seek damages for being sold a bad product - one that you can't refuse, burns your face off and makes your teeth drop out in short order. I'm a business person and can't sell products that perform like this without consequence. Hmmm, maybe my rights are being violated. But I think even if it is illegal, a parent should be able to file suit to the provider of the toxin. If that trail points to another minor - the litigation process should continue until the profiting adult is revealed . There are things that we could do immediately if the legal system were functioning beyond the current revolving door/short term storage processing system.
I would be hesitant to say let it grow until we get smarter on our own doorstep. Which first means we all identify that from poppies comes morphine for medical use but also too does it fill our streets with needles and slain black youth.
I have puzzled long over the notion of decriminalizing illegal drug production/use. research indicates that for every alcoholic, three to five people are profoundly affected by his/her addiction. In the US, estimates are that from 20-30 million people are alcoholics/addicts, which means, conservatively, that at least 60 million people are affected by alcoholism/addiction; high numbers work out to 150 million people, or just about half of the population. And that is just the US.
In Mexico, the drug cartels have gone such a spree of violence that between 3-4ooo people hav ebeen killed this year alone in drug wars.
So the question, how does the world pull the plug on this pandemic of drug use?
I think the first step must be some way to render the profit in drug running to virtually zero. If there were no profit in it, there would be no criminals and unenlightened governments engaging in the production and distribution of these drugs. So how can we do that and still keep some kind of handle on the issue of addiction, protecting ourselves from both the drug suppliers and the addicts/users? Any ideas out there? yoo-hoo - anyone listening?
The drug war has failed everywhere. It has not reduced the problems of drug use and addiction, but only increased them. Drug use and addiction remain as widespread as ever, but in addition to the health and social problems actually attributable to the effects of the drugs themselves, prohibition adds: corruption, violence and a lucrative source of income for criminal elements everywhere. Look at Mexico and Colombia.
Its time for the control freaks of our electorate to recognize that their efforts to make everyone else behave as they want, they are making things worse, not better, even for themselves.
While we're at it, let's figure out a way to end the mindless "War on Drugs." Law enforcement officials with integrity are behind this idea. Check out their website by googling "LEAP" - it stands for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.
fuckin hell, thank Allah the Towers fell... fuck the control freaks. Fuck Osama n Fuck Bush, eye played both of you. Soon, forces shall move from Iraq to Afghanistan; we need another war... there are too many people and too many idiots in this world; gotta kill em off some how. Then, after the fact, the "U.S" shall lose the war of attrition, economic collapse already underway, negating Federal Authority. Warms my black heart; God hates you, Liberty hates you, the Founding Fathers hate you. Fucking pathetic, almost none are worthy. I'm pleased your losing your jobs, I hope you starve and end up homeless like the worthless liers that you are. This country and world do not deserve prosperity. Most everyone here deserve annililation, and that's depressing. Lets just end this mess, get it over with.
Fools, you cannot stop Me.
Join US or DIE!
I am War - Antares - I am the Heart of Scorpio - I am the extremes - colder than ice, hotter than Fire - I am more than this - far beyond control. My content is in the span of the Universe - my plan is my will - the birth of the essence of my content- myself and the death thereof. I hate - I love, I am far beyond All - All-power is my weapon. I witness all - The ecstasy is enough for me- something more will be out of sight - And that is worth living for. My hate is fiercer than the burdens and punishments of karma, for the Lord of Karma is a part of me. To me you do no wrong!
All is Perfect ? - Wrong!
Thank you.
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