>Total US spending on poppy eradication and other antidrug efforts in
>Afghanistan last year: $780,000,000
>
>Amount it would have cost to purchase the country's entire 2004
>poppy crop: $600,000,000
>
>[Sources: US State Dept., UN Office on Drugs and Crime (Vienna)]
The farmers would just double production if a new market (the US government) opened up. Though it certainly would seem to make sense to let Afghanistan in of the legal opium market, with investment in opium processing factories to go along with it.
The local farmers here in Tasmania would string me up for suggesting this of course. They are in on the legal opium racket and make a lot of money out of it. The last thing they want is to let anyone else in on the monopoly. However Afghanistan would have to modernise agricultural production techniques, which would be a good thing. It would also mean an investment in policing and control of poppy production. Which the industry would finance. (There's a special unit of the Tasmanian Police, as well as a squad of industry inspectors who patrol crops here. They have to check all crops for casual interference and also make sure the cockies aren't tempted to make a few bucks on the side.
They even have new genetically engineered strains which are rumoured to be deadly if not processed properly.)
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas