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Afghan Opium Solution Proposed

By Jeralyn, Section Crime Policy
Posted on Mon Nov 21, 2005 at 05:35:02 AM EST
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Here's a novel idea. A think tank in Afghanistan has a proposed solution to the opium problem in Afghanistan.

The West should buy up Afghanistan's opium crop and license its use for pain-relief medicines rather than trying to destroy the crop.

The Senlis Council, an international drug policy think-tank with operations in Afghanistan, says the planned deployment of 3,000 British troops to smash the narcotics trade there is doomed to fail. Senlis will present a feasibility study of its plan today at Chatham House in London. The idea is to establish a licensing system under which the Afghan government would control poppy cultivation for the production of opium-based pain killers, such as morphine and codeine, rather than trying to suppress it.

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    • Afghan Opium Solution Proposed | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#13)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:15 PM EST
    well, you never know, those bed pans may be worth a fortune on the street!

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#1)
    by cpinva on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:18 PM EST
    the british plan is as doomed as every other attempt, for the past 165 years (don't forget the "opium wars" of the 1840's) has. i don't know if this plan is the answer, but it certainly bears looking at. probably be a lot cheaper than the traditional military/law enforcement response of the past 40 years.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:18 PM EST
    The idea is unfortunately flawed. It has actually been tried on a small scale, and what happens is that the farmers willingly grow a few jeribs of poppy for legitimate sales, and then grow a few more for the narcotics trade. I don't know what the answer is, but I don't think that's it.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#4)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:18 PM EST
    Of course, NY Dem is right. This simply creates additional demand. I suppose you might argue that the West could purchase all the opium Afghani farmers could possibly produce. This would require ever larger purchases as farmers invest in labor and land saving technology. And given the West’s inclination for drug price caps I expect the black market would be willing to pay more for Afghani opium crops anyway. It just doesn’t seem workable. Why not avoid all the hassle and just get the feds out from between Afghani farmers and opium users. It would be cheaper for everyone.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#5)
    by BigTex on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:18 PM EST
    Perhaps a variation on the plan will work. Buy what is available for pain medication. If any extracarricular opium sales are taking place, purn it, and take the offending farmer off of the list of eligibility for 5 years, with regular checks to ensure he is not growing more after removal from the list. A carrot and stick approach will have a better chance for long term success, because it will establish a base of legal growers who have a vested interest in stopping the illicit sales, who are more likely to turn in the offending parties to protect themselves. An equally big question is who gets to buy the opium. The drug companies are making obscene amounts of money, if they are allowed to go in and buy cheap opium it will only inflate profits without increasing any benefit to the consumer.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#6)
    by kdog on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:18 PM EST
    Amen PW. Let the farmers bring their crop to market legally; just like grain, corn, and tobacco. Problem reduced.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#7)
    by pigwiggle on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:19 PM EST
    “The drug companies are making obscene amounts of money, if they are allowed to go in and buy cheap opium it will only inflate profits without increasing any benefit to the consumer.”
    This really isn’t true. US drug companies get a lot of flack for making ‘obscene’ money, but relative to their European counterparts they don’t make much more. The big nine US drug companies made a ~22% margin while the European analogue made ~21% this year.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#8)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:19 PM EST
    Remember the law of unintended consequences. More people would start cultivating opium, since the proposed solution makes poppy-farming a more reliable source of income than the current illegal trade. Those people might otherwise work in construction, education, or some other line of work that helps Afghanistan achieve economic independence. (I know they might also instead work in burglarly, counterfeiting, etc..) A decrease in supply of illegal opium would drive up prices in the illegal market. Without effective controls on illegal opium trade, farmers in Afghanistan would still have a good incentive to grow and trade it illegaly. Probably enough would do it to drive the price back down so that the illegal trade is only slightly more profitable than the legal trade. So if we pay farmers as much for legal opium as they currently get for illegal opium, the market will correct and we won't get much reduction in illegal opium. And the price for opium-based medicine will be kept artificially high because we won't be able to pay less for opium as the supply increases. All that might still be a net improvement, but it's probably not quite what folks had in mind. Also remember the law of uninformed speculation, of which the above is an example.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#9)
    by Sailor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    The biggest problem I see with the plan is that we don't control very much of afghanistan so we couldn't keep track of whether farmers complied or not. On the whole: drug companies would be able to make significantly higher payments than narco traffickers and I'm sure the farmers would rather have a legal crop than the instability of the warlord/drug dealer crop. Once again, the caveat is if we controlled the country and could protect them.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#10)
    by roy on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    On the whole: drug companies would be able to make significantly higher payments than narco traffickers...
    Eh? Black market goods are usually more profitable than their legal counterparts. Think of it as compensating for the risk, or as a result of the artificially limited supply. Unless "would be able to" is a euphemism for "could be forced to", in which case, sure.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#11)
    by roger on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    Turkey produces all the opium that BigPharma needs. They probably would not appreviate the competition, and they are our only Moslem friends. They are also in NATO and soon, the EU. Not gonna happen, wouldnt be prudent

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#12)
    by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    Speaking of illegal drugs... A friend has a fractured hip and is in a rehab facility, and cannot walk... yet (fingers crossed). Hip fractures require the use of a special bed pan, otherwise a lot of pain by movement may occur... Yesterday the facility couldn't find a special bed pan.... Upon investigation it was determined that they had plenty of them.... locked up in the facility that contains drugs.... And I swear that is the truth... Time to rethink our drug policy...

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#14)
    by jimcee on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    Billselz has it right.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#15)
    by glanton on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:20 PM EST
    Everyone who wants to wake up to a joint, is waking up to a joint.
    Not necessarily. Pretty dry this time of year in many places, such as my world. But still, point taken.

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#16)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:22 PM EST
    You mean the afghanis are smuggling canadian weed across the border? Bastards! No you idiot, the police are smuggling afghani weed across the canadian border. Bastards..... - Super Troopers Classic

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#17)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:22 PM EST
    You lost me Jim........sry...tried to follow...but........ya lost me

    Re: Afghan Opium Solution Proposed (none / 0) (#18)
    by Johnny on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:06:23 PM EST
    It does seem as if Jim misplaced his medications on that post...

    Afghan Opium Solution Proposed | 17 comments (17 topical)