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Afghanistan
Afghan parliament wants opium lobby thrown out
2006-05-28
The upper house of Afghan parliament wants a London-based group pushing for the legalisation of Afghanistan's huge opium crop to leave the country, the counternarcotics ministry said Saturday. A meeting of the upper house last week decided the Senlis Council "should stop their activities in Afghanistan and leave this country," the ministry said in a statement.

The international think-tank has been pushing for Afghanistan to legalise its opium crop, which supplies up to 90 percent of the heroin used in Europe, saying crop eradication will never work. The group says opium production should be licenced and the crop used to make legal painkillers for developing countries, which it says have a growing demand for these drugs. The upper house said the activities of the Senlis Council were against a ruling by religious leaders against drugs, as well as the constitution, which also prohibits their production and use.
Posted by:Fred

#5  Fab Furry Freak Bros.
Posted by: 3dc   2006-05-28 14:48  

#4  Hear, Hear 3dc.
Is this the blue blog?
Posted by: HalfEmpty   2006-05-28 11:42  

#3  Switch opium for "grass" in this cartoon and it just about states the situation of the Senlis Council..

Posted by: 3dc   2006-05-28 10:30  

#2  The power to tax is the power to destroy...
Posted by: Fred   2006-05-28 01:37  

#1  This may eventually prove to be an effective short-term solution. Basically, to nationalize the opium industry. That is, by removing the criminal element from growing and harvesting opium, the Afghan government can quickly export a valuable crop, and use the proceeds to create more legitimate agriculture and development.

Farmers would gladly take a legal percentage, which would actually probably be higher than what they now net, after bribes, extortion and other costs. In turn, all the government would have to do is to survey their crop, to prevent skimming, and to protect the farmers from those who want to lean on them.

Ironically, the biggest opponent to such a plan would be the US and European pharma industries, who sell huge amounts of less-effective painkillers around the world at great profit.

There was a problem in past with morphine for medical use, in that doctors would carry a large amount around with them for cardiac use. However, it was discovered that atropine has a synergistic effect with morphine, so a smaller quantity of both can be used as a highly effective combination. This would be the most practical use in 3rd and 4th world countries, without huge amounts of morphine flowing around in an uncontrolled manner.

The bottom line is that it could become such a profitable enterprise in Afghanistan that it could pay for their entire national redevelopment in the space of a decade or more, allowing them to diversify away from opium.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2006-05-28 00:38  

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