The following news doesn’t bode well for two of the United States’ ill-conceived wars: the so-called “War on Terror” and the so-called “War on Drugs”.
From The New York Times:
Afghanistan’s opium harvest this year has reached the highest levels ever recorded, showing an increase of almost 50 percent from last year, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Antonio Maria Costa, said Saturday in Kabul.
He said the increase in cultivation was fueled by the resurgence of Taliban rebels in the south, the country’s prime opium growing region. As the insurgents have stepped up their attacks, they have also encouraged and profited from the drug trade, promising protection to growers if they worked to expand their opium operations.
1 comment:
I am on record agreeing with Christopher Hitchens that the US anti-drug laws work against its pro-democracy efforts in Afgahnistan. Obviously the best course of action here for us pro-democrats:
1. Legalize and regulate all recrational drugs in the US.
2. Foster and facilitate poppie growth in Afgahnistan.
A drawback with (1) above is that it would reduce the price of heroin by perhaps 90%. That would reduce the benefits to Afgahnis from (2). However, it would certainly eliminate poppie growth as one front in the Afgahn war.
The US prohibition against recreational drugs is surely one of the biggst problems that we face, and yet one of the simplest to solve.
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