Opium for the people

[Hagakure]

Opium for the people: Extraordinary move to legalise poppy crops

The 'IoS' can reveal Tony Blair is considering calls to legalise poppy production in the Taliban's backyard. The plan could cut medical shortages of opiates worldwide, curb smuggling - and hit the insurgents

By Francis Elliott

Published: 01 April 2007

The buds of millions of poppy flowers are swelling across Afghanistan. In the far southern provinces bordering Iran, the harvest will start later this month. By mid- May the fields around British military camps in Helmand will be ringing to the sound of scythes, rather than gunfire.

And this year's opium harvest will almost certainly be the largest ever. In the five years since the overthrow of the Taliban regime, land under cultivation for poppy has grown from 8,000 to 165,000 hectares.

The US wants to step up eradication programmes, crop-spraying from the air. But, desperate to win "hearts and minds" in Afghanistan and protect British troops, Tony Blair is on the brink of a U-turn that will set him on a collision course with President George Bush.

The Prime Minister has ordered a review of his counter-narcotics strategy - including the possibility of legalising some poppy production - after an extraordinary meeting with a Tory MP on Wednesday, The Independent on Sunday has learnt. Tobias Ellwood, a backbencher elected less than two years ago, has apparently succeeded where ministers and officials have failed in leading Mr Blair to consider a hugely significant switch in policy.

Supporters of the measure say it would not only curb an illegal drugs trade which supplies 80 per cent of the heroin on Britain's streets, but would hit the Taliban insurgency and help save the lives of British troops. Much of the legally produced drug could be used to alleviate a shortage of opiates for medicinal use in Britain and beyond, they say.

A Downing Street spokesman confirmed last night that Mr Blair is now considering whether to back a pilot project that would allow some farmers to produce and sell their crops legally to drugs companies. His change of heart has surprised the Foreign Office, which recently denied that licit poppy production was being considered. A freedom of information request has revealed that the Government looked carefully at proposals to buy up Afghanistan's poppy crop as early as 2000, under the Taliban. The removal of that regime - justified to both US and British voters partly in terms of a victory in the "war on drugs" - has made it politically difficult to financially reward poppy farmers.

But the links between drug warlords, terrorism and the Taliban are clear. Traffickers hold poor farmers in a form of bondage through the supply of credit, paid back in opium. Many of those fighting British troops during the winter months will return to their villages to harvest poppy crops in the spring and summer. The traffickers' huge profits help to fund the fight against Nato troops.

The White House has consistently rejected the idea that opium could help to solve Afghanistan's chronic poverty. But there are clear signs of a shift in international opinion towards allowing a legal trade. Pervez Musharraf, the President of Pakistan, has said that "buying the crop is an idea we could explore". He added: "We would need money from the US or the UN. But we could buy the whole crop and destroy it. In that way the poor growers would not suffer."

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, who has opposed the idea in the past, is said privately to have changed his mind - as long as the international community takes on any licensing scheme.

Campaigners who have been agitating for the change in policy point out that the opium, rather than being destroyed, could alleviate a worldwide shortage of medicinal opiates. Ministers recently admitted that the NHS is running short of diamorphine and codeine. Many developing countries, particularly in Africa, do not have adequate stocks of basic pain relief; campaigners refer to a "global pain crisis".

Britain leads the £1bn-a-year international operation to wipe out poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. This country alone has spent almost £200m over the past four years on efforts to eradicate poppy fields and persuade farmers to grow other crops.

Meanwhile, in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold, poppy production rose 169 per cent last year alone, according to official UN figures. Some 400,000 Afghans are thought to be engaged in the trade, which dwarfs the country's official GDP. Last year Afghanistan produced 92 per cent of the world's opium, worth almost $3bn. Counter-narcotic operations by the Afghan government are considered at best ineffective and at worst corrupt, as local politicians order the destruction of rival crops and the protection of their own. Only 43,000 acres of poppy were destroyed last year.

Britain has resisted US pressure to spray poppies from the air, fearing a widespread destruction of poor farmers' livelihoods would simply drive more of them into the hands of the Taliban. Last year, troops stationed in Helmand were plunged into some of the fiercest fighting experienced by British soldiers since the Korean War, despite carefully avoiding destroying local poppy crops.

Opponents of the proposal to buy up crops or license growers claim that it could simply drive up the price of opium, making it yet more attractive to farmers. The US State Department doubts that the Afghan government can be trusted to keep legally produced narcotics separate from the illegal product. While Turkey diverted production successfully from the black market to legitimate medicinal supplies, Afghanistan, it says, has neither the infrastructure nor the security to make legal poppy production economically viable or safe.

Efforts to foster alternative crops could also be at risk. Britain, with others, has ploughed tens of millions of pounds into persuading farmers to grow pomegranates, potatoes and mint.

But Mr Ellwood, a former officer in the Royal Green Jackets and now MP for Bournemouth East, became convinced of the need for a pilot project to test the idea of licit production on one of his frequent trips to Afghanistan. He believes it would be possible to use the profits from the trade to build up the infrastructure and, once controlled by the government rather than the drug barons, farmers could gradually be weaned off poppies and on to alternative cash crops.

He delivered a presentation to the Prime Minister and Foreign Office officials on Wednesday, suggesting an intermediaryco-ordinate the efforts of government agencies and NGOs . He proposed that Britain oversee a pilot project in Helmand.

A spokesman for No 10 said that Mr Blair agreed to consider the idea, and would reply before Easter, adding: "The Prime Minister did note there were doubts about the capacity of the Afghan government in this regard."

Mr Ellwood said: "It is ironic that the world, including Britain, experiences a shortage of diamorphine and codeine, but we choose to prevent the fourth poorest country in the world from producing it. Instead we are destroying the crops, alienating communities who then seek support from the Taliban. Five years since the invasion, peace remains a distant hope. Until the issue of poppy crops is solved, the fragile umbrella of security will never be strong enough for long-term reconstruction and development initiatives to take root."

The precious harvest that can kill or cure

Every year tens of thousands more hectares of Afghanistan are given over to illegal poppy production. President Hamid Karzai has called the opium trade his country's 'cancer'. This year's harvest starts within weeks.

Tony Blair has become the latest figure to consider whether it is possible to divert the raw product grown in fields throughout Afghanistan to legal outlets.

The legal route

Village elders are given responsibility for ensuring that licensed farmers grow only enough poppies to fulfil their yearly quotas and also grow other, edible crops.

Farmers are allowed only to supply poppy straw, the basic ingredient of opium, which is then taken to local, regulated plants to make the narcotic.

Legitimate drugs firms buy the licensed opium from Afghanistan and make medical opiates to alleviate the pain of patients in hospitals all over the world.

The illegal route

Opium traders hold farmers in virtual bondage through the supply of huge loans that enable families to survive through the winter, but in summer they are paid in opium.

Farmers make their own opium, which is handed to traders. They pass it up the chain of command to drugs warlords who process it into heroin.

After being trafficked through Iran and the Balkans, the Afghan heroin hits the streets - and the veins of Britain's addicts - for about £50 a gram.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/a...11398.ece?x=new

[Jesus On Peyote]

think i heard this mentioned b4 on the forum b4, or at least an earlier ongoing report. Pretty funny when you think about it. The British,opium and war always seem to link up somehow though the ages.

Make no mistake,i would support it, for the farmers then need an income an to cultivate it there seeing as it is one of the few plants they can grow in their climate that actually makes a profit. BUT i would also like to see the british not screw em over n expoilt the farmers like everyone else has, they can buy a kilo for 50 au and after their done with it,it sells as medication (or illigal drugs) for $1000 ( somthing along those numbers )

[Torsten]

wow, politicians with a brain. quick, let's sack em!

btw, this move would relaly hurt Tassie farmers, cos afghani opium would be MUCH cheaper. It's a logical and inevitable decision though.

[Ace]

Heroin anyone? I can see how this would be great for medicine, but am I the only one who thinks this is a little sus? But, since its pissing Dubbya off - I can only say I'm suddenly all for it!!

Now, if only they'd do the same for cannabis...

[ENtiTY]

I don't think the warlords would take this lying down. Those poor farmers a screwed no matter which way the penny drops. If its not the government burning their crops it'll be the warlords and the farmers along with it.

Its is deffinatley a step in the right direction though. I hope the British have a plan to protect the farmers from the warlords that their so bent on pissing off.

[Anodyne]

Heroin anyone? I can see how this would be great for medicine, but am I the only one who thinks this is a little sus?

The British actually use heroin medicinally, as the article says - they just call it "diamorphine". I'm in 2 minds about that - on one hand, it's great that most people aren't immediately judging the drug because of the name (like they would if it was called heroin), but on the other hand it's a bit of a double standard: "diamorphine is a wonderful analgesic with a wide array of uses and is ok to give to pregnant mothers, but heroin is the bane of the earth & it's use by anyone is wrong & illegal"

But I'll be surprised if they actually manage to get this approved. It's against the entire US/World Bank/etc drug policy - I can't imagine them backpedalling just because the UK want cheaper opiates.

[Jesus On Peyote]

If theres secret profits to be made then thell find a way. Maybe bush promised blair afghans poppies, while he takes iraqs oil. Could be the start of the 3rd opium war lol. ahh a war over opium, god smiles over briten :/

[Jesus On Peyote]

doublepost

Edited April 5, 2007 by Jesus On Peyote

[Torsten]

some of the last few posts seem to ignore that heroin isn't the only alkaloid made from opium and that there is a huge trade in legal opiates. Currently the majority of this is produced in tasmania under UN license. There will be stiff opposition to the english idea as this would undermine the inefficient and costly opium production in the west. So, when you hear Howard complaining about this plan, keep in mind that he is mostly thinking of his tassie electorate, NOT the afghan people.

[Jesus On Peyote]

As long as there is no exploitation by anyone, and the locals in afghanistan are the ones that benefit the most, then its fine.

And like torsten says, there are alot of legal uses for whats in the poppies,but thats where my concern comes in,all pharm companies that would be profiting from the cheap production would be western companies.like i said, as long as the afghans win most out of the deal.

[Hagakure]

yeah it will be good for the afgan people. will be a market where taliban and big pharma will be bidding for their crop. that means lots of money for the afgan people and its taken out of the pockets of groups i really dont like.

rock on market forces

Edited April 5, 2007 by Hagakure

[Anodyne]

some of the last few posts seem to ignore that heroin isn't the only alkaloid made from opium and that there is a huge trade in legal opiates.

Sure, there's a trade in legal cocaine too (admittedly much smaller, though largely for political reasons - the legal analogues are mostly weaker/more toxic), and that hasn't stopped the US from intimidating many South American countries into banning coca, just because it fits with their policy. Did they give those farmers the option to sell their coca for legal processing, or did they just go in and spray with herbicides?

There will be stiff opposition to the english idea as this would undermine the inefficient and costly opium production in the west

What makes tassie production so inefficient?

[nabraxas]

 

 

What makes tassie production so inefficient?

the wages paid to Tasmanian farmers.

[Jesus On Peyote]

Why do you think everyone is moving to china an india, cheap labour, no complaints. and afgans make the best damn poppies around, which would be cheaper to buy the actual opium, and cheaper to pay the farmers like nab said

[Rev]

wow, politicians with a brain. quick, let's sack em!

btw, this move would relaly hurt Tassie farmers, cos afghani opium would be MUCH cheaper. It's a logical and inevitable decision though.

theyve known that for ages - hence the norman strains and thebaine production

tassie has the benefit of machine harvesting and flatter land (transport)

i know if i was a poppy farmer id not be wanting to comepete on teh internatonal codeine and morphine production markets - which india and turkey dominate through the help of the USA

but poppies can throw out some pretty interesting other things if you bombard them with enough gamm radiation

[Rev]

Anyone got data on the alleged inefficiency of western opium production?

i wont believe it less i see it

they sow and harvest with machines, use fertilisers and chem weed control like a wheat crop

they harvest teh whole pods when dry - no lancing labour- and take the whole biomass to be processed in giant vats full of solvent

if it wasnt for the 80:20 rule i think alot of summer wheat growing areas would being growing it with the efficiency of well - wheat, whith which several wild poppies 'naturally' cohabit