then we wouldn't have it for medicinal use would we?

One of the reasons I'm now self-employed is because I once asked my manager, "What's this weeks long-term plan, then?"

Americans, eh?

Many opioids can be synthesised in small quantities, and a don't think it would present a massive leap in bio-engineering to cultivate it from genetically altered bacteria or fungi. Expensive and innovative but not impossible.

I was also being factitious.

True we do have many synthetic drugs but I don't think we are at the stage where we can do without the poppy yet.

Why not pay these farmers to grow GM foods. But pay them slightly more than they would get for the poppy crop. It would still be cheaper than growing it here.
Once harvested the GM foods can be sent to Africa to help them out there, which would save us money by not having to grow and supply the stuff ourselves. It would reduce the money spent on Africa. It would reduce the amount of Heroin around the world and it would give the farmers a ligitimate crop they could grow and be proud of, because they would effectivly be helping other countries who are probably in a worse position then themselves.

There would be limited waiste product and would eventually create a supply line that would benefit the Afganistan and a lot of African nations.

I imagine the taliban or drug dealers would be well made up and on side.

No infrastructure to get it out. Plus the poppy grows like, er, a weed

msr

Alternative crops such as food etc are not doing too well I hear. Some experiments have been made to get more of these going and I think irrigation and transport are all huge probs.
As MSR says the poppy grows well its an indiginous plant.

GM crops would grow well, that is the whole point of GM. Maybe not quite as well as poppys but better than most food crops.

As for infrastructure to get it out. That is where Africa can help themselves, by supplying the planes to take it out of the country, then supplying it to the reagions that need it. there are a few African nations that would have the ability and the security to be able to do this successfully, thus creating a supply chain that works for all involved.

Have you been, er, indulging, in some of Afghanistan's output?

msr

Na not today, I'm a bit skint and not seen any grannies about. times are hard.

Go down the library then, it's free. Oh, and take the time to read some books on Afghanistan and Africa.

msr

[quote="PartTimePongo"]
Unfair, for a work experience boy he's doing quite well. When will the real Foreign Secretary come back?

What connections are there between the smugglers and the Taliban?

At the moment the Taliban act as middlemen - they buy from the farmers and sell on at a profit. If we buy the crop then the only way to get the cash is, as you say, to extort it from the farmers. How long before the farmers stop being taliban sympathisers?

And next year we pay the farmers the same amount per acre for wheat (or something else that will grow there) as we paid for opium and we keep doing that for 10 years. Result - reduction in opium production, increase in economic wealth in Af'stan

Yep, British junkies (and junkies the world over) help fund the Taliban in killing British troops when they shoot up.

How about a test case in a court of law that attaches 'treason' to the charge sheet for dealing and possession of these drugs? Then reinstitute the death penalty as a possible sentence for treason (it wasn't so long ago that that was repealed, late 90s or early 2000s) and make a few examples. It wouldn't take long, people would get the message and, after this and targetting the key routes it enters the country and key nodes of dealers within the country, we could see a decline in the amount of heroin used and sold here. Other countries would have to follow suit for a concerted effect, perhaps USA as they already practice the death penalty and can be very pro-forces.

Mitigates the problem at home and reduces the market for the Talibs to sell to, reducing their funding and activity. Although I'd agree that just buying off the farmers in the first place is a more elegant solution (if full of difficulties).

Absolute joke, so what are you going to do with Coke/Crack/Meth/Hash/Weed/Speed/E's/PCP/etc then?

Just a reminder, dont forget prohibition worked well in the States didnt it??

Why would I need to, I admit I have not been to Afganistan and books at a library are not going to tell me much about the opium production and distribution in Afganistan are they?
But I have beed to african on more than 1 occasion, enough to see how much of a problem is there and possible come up with the first soundings of an idea that could be expanded apon by the powers that be.

I hate to be pedantic but books and reports can be very informative - I suggest a short reading list :

UNITED NATIONS Office on Drugs and Crime (PDF). Afghanistan Opium Survey 2007. www.unodc.org/pdf/rese...m_web.pdf.

^ Smith, Graeme (March 22, 2008), "Portrait of the enemy", The Globe and Mail: A16, www.militaryphotos.net...p?t=131245


Plus The Oxford English Dictionary wouldn't go a miss either Einstein.

Sorry fat fingers.

Although I don't have the time at the moment to read those report's, I will do so. Thanks.

Yep, I know it will not happen, and of course it is already prohibited.

But can you tell me you are content with the current state of affairs, whereby drug addicts here not only commit crimes to get cash for their fixes, but also fund movements such as the neo-Taliban?

Perhaps execution/life for treason is too far fetched, but there is surely some charge for financially aiding sponsors of terror.