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U.N. Report Opium Production Up in Afghanistan

The U.N. Annual Opium Poppy Survey, a report on the Afghan Opium Trade, has been released (available here, pdf.) Opium production is up.

The report is the work of a combination of international anti-drug agencies. From the executive summary:

In 2007, Afghanistan cultivated 193,000 hectares of opium poppies, an increase of 17% over last year. The amount of Afghan land used for opium is now larger than the corresponding total for coca cultivation in Latin America (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined).

Favourable weather conditions produced opium yields (42.5 kg per hectare)higher than last year (37.0 kg/ha). As a result, in 2007 Afghanistan produced an extraordinary 8,200 tons of opium (34% more than in 2006), becoming practically the exclusive supplier of the world’s deadliest drug (93% of the global opiates market).

More....

Leaving aside 19th century China, that had a population at that time 15 times larger than today’s Afghanistan, no other country in the world has ever produced narcotics on such a deadly scale.

Sounds a little alarmist. But then, so was their 2004 report, the press release for which began:

This year, opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 64 per cent compared to 2003, according to the Afghanistan Opium Survey 2004, released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

“In Afghanistan, drugs are now a clear and present danger”, stated Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UNODC.

Announcing the Survey findings during a press briefing in Brussels, Mr. Costa added, “With 131,000 hectares dedicated to opium farming, this year Afghanistan has established a double record -- the highest drug cultivation in the country’s history, and the largest in the world.”

As to what should be done, here's what the Executive Director said in 2004:

“In counter-narcotics, there is no silver bullet. The opium economy in Afghanistan has to be dismantled with democracy, the rule of law and economic improvement -- it will be a long and difficult process. It cannot be done ruthlessly as it was done by the Taliban, nor with mindless disregard for the country's poverty. It would be a historical error to abandon Afghanistan to opium, right after we reclaimed it from the Taliban and Al-Qaida”, concluded UNODC’s Executive Director.

Here's what Mr. Costa says today:

"The Afghan situation looks grim, but it is not yet hopeless," the drug agency's executive director, Antonio Maria Costa, said in a prepared statement. He cited evidence that several provinces in central and northern Afghanistan have eradicated their opium fields. The northern Afghan province of Balkh has seen a decline in opium cultivation from 17,000 acres to zero. The report attributes the drop to economic incentives and security guarantees that "have led farmers to turn their back on opium."

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  • Display: Sort:
    Why not buy it? (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by cmpnwtr on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:29:10 AM EST
    Why not buy the opium and use it for opiate pharmaceuticals?

    That's too easy and sends the wrong (none / 0) (#5)
    by Militarytracy on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 10:44:35 AM EST
    message in the War on Drugs.  If the farmers were getting paid in some kind of stable dependable fashion for producing crops I bet some might even consider growing a different cash crop that the climate supports, and it would probably pay better than the flooded opium market is going to pay.  They would need the seed and perhaps a brief education in the needs of a different crop to do that though?  Once again that is so easy and nothing can be that easy for the little people.  It just isn't right!  You don't get to stop struggling valiantly for your everyday existence until you have a trust fund, everybody knows that!

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    We buy a lot from other countries (none / 0) (#9)
    by BlueAubie on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 01:30:28 PM EST
    After reading your post, I wondered who Rush's root supplier of oxy really was.  Here's a link and a short excerpt.

    http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/01jan20061800/edocket.access.gpo.gov/2006/E6-16325.htm

    Notwithstanding paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section,
    the Administrator shall permit, pursuant to 21 U.S.C. 952(a)(1) or
    (a)(2)(A), the importation of approved narcotic raw material (opium,
    poppy straw and concentrate of poppy straw) having as its source:
        (1) Turkey,
        (2) India,
        (3) Spain,
        (4) France,
        (5) Poland,
        (6) Hungary, and
        (7) Australia.
        (g) At least eighty (80) percent of the narcotic raw material
    imported into the United States shall have as its original source
    Turkey and India. Except under conditions of insufficient supplies of
    narcotic raw materials, not more than twenty (20) percent of the
    narcotic raw material imported into the United States annually shall
    have as its source Spain, France, Poland, Hungary and Australia.

    I was going to say that Rush had violated his France boycott.  That depends though, on what year Rush's opiates where purchased, and whether we had exhausted our main suppliers, Turkey and India, and had to move further down the list.

    Parent

    "World's Deadliest Drug" is... (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Lora on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 10:42:21 AM EST
    Tobacco!

    From WHO:

    Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world, with an estimated 4.9 million deaths a year. If current smoking patterns continue, the toll will nearly double by 2020. A high percentage of deaths (70%) will occur in developing countries. Tobacco kills people at the height of their productivity, depriving families of breadwinners and nations of a healthy workforce.


    Counter-narcotics in Afghanistan ignores Osama (5.00 / 0) (#7)
    by aahpat on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 09:40:11 PM EST
    The U.S. State Department this month published a report, "U.S. Counternarcotics Strategy for Afghanistan".

    "According to UN estimates, 2007 may see another record year of opium poppy cultivation and resulting heroin overproduction. This crop could translate into more than 650 tons of heroin, supplying the entire world's demand for over a year. By comparison, U.S. users consume 15 tons of heroin a year."

    Foreign policy expert Barnett Rubin has published two parts of a three part analysis of the State Department report for Informed Comment Global Affairs blog. I have the links for all the parts on my blog here: Counter-narcotics in Afghanistan ignores Osama bin Laden

    Dr. Rubin last fall told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee:  "The international drug control regime, which criminalizes narcotics, does not reduce drug use, but it does produce huge profits for criminals and the armed groups and corrupt officials who protect them. Our drug policy grants huge subsidies to our enemies." Dick Lugar laughed nervously, gavelled down the hearing and ran out of the room. Pathetic. It so illustrated the point made in the Washington post recently by former BBC reporter Misha glenny in his Op/Ed "The Lost War".

    "The trade in illegal narcotics begets violence, poverty and tragedy. And wherever I went around the world, gangsters, cops, victims, academics and politicians delivered the same message: The war on drugs is the underlying cause of the misery. Everywhere, that is, except Washington, where a powerful bipartisan consensus has turned the issue into a political third rail."

    Pretty insane considering the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the drug war front line elected executives in America representing the interests of most all of urban America, passed the following resolution at their meeting this summer:

    "NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the United States Conference of Mayors believes the war on drugs has failed....

    I had thought the best choice for Afghanistan was (none / 0) (#2)
    by jerry on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:32:37 AM EST
    to enlist Nike, The GAP and other "former" sweatshop maquiladora manufacturers and get them to build factories and employ workers and farmers to plant cotton, and make clothing that we would import.

    Like other alternatives in Iraq, I think there was a timeframe this would have worked easily, and I think it would have been a win win for everyone in terms of creating legit jobs, diverting farms to cotton production, building up the economy, and even providing the GAP, et. al., with another choice of cheap labor.

    So let me get this straight (none / 0) (#3)
    by Al on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 12:48:00 AM EST
    NATO is watching over the world's largest production of raw material for heroin? And can you believe this guy?
    He cited evidence that several provinces in central and northern Afghanistan have eradicated their opium fields. The northern Afghan province of Balkh has seen a decline in opium cultivation from 17,000 acres to zero.
    Hello? If the total crop has increased 17%, does this not mean production has increased even more in other provinces?

    When Hillary is eletected, (none / 0) (#6)
    by Wile ECoyote on Tue Aug 28, 2007 at 05:14:48 PM EST
    I expect production to plummet.

    That's really why Rush hates her (none / 0) (#8)
    by Militarytracy on Wed Aug 29, 2007 at 09:09:12 AM EST
    it pushes his drug costs up when stuff is scarce.

    Parent