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veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 17,504
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Even for Taliban, too much opium
#9330319 - 11/29/08 01:36 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Even for Taliban, too much opium November 27, 2008 - Herald Tribune
UNITED NATIONS, New York: Afghanistan has produced so much opium in recent years that the Taliban are cutting back poppy cultivation and stockpiling raw opium in an effort to support prices and preserve a major source of financing for the insurgency, says the head of the United Nations drug office, Antonio Maria Costa.
Costa made his remarks last week as his office prepared to release its latest survey of Afghanistan's opium crop. Issued Thursday, it showed that poppy cultivation had retreated in much of the country and was now overwhelmingly concentrated in the 7 of 34 provinces where the insurgency remains strong, most of those in the south.
The result was a 19 percent reduction in the amount of land devoted to opium in Afghanistan, the United Nations found, even though the total tonnage of opium produced dropped by just 6 percent.
The high output per acre was attributed to a good growing season in the south, a heavily irrigated area where the Taliban maintain a strong presence in five provinces and have for several years "systematically encouraged" opium cultivation as a way to finance their insurgency, the study said.
Last year, the insurgents made as much as $300 million from the opium trade, by United Nations estimates. "With two to three hundred million dollars a lot of war effort can be funded," said Costa, an Italian diplomat who has served at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime for six years.
But after three years of bumper crops, including this one, the Taliban have succeeded almost too well, producing opium in amounts far in excess of world demand. The result, Costa said, was a glut that was putting downward pressure on the price, which had dropped by about 20 percent.
The fact that prices had not collapsed, he said, was evidence that the Taliban, drug lords and even some farmers have stockpiled the opium, more and more of which is also being processed in Afghanistan. "Insurgents have been holding significant amounts of opium," Costa said.
The surplus - as much as 11,000 tons, or more than twice world demand in the last three years - now threatened to devalue even those stockpiles, Costa said. In 2008, Afghanistan produced 8,500 tons of opium, the United Nations found. World demand was estimated at about 4,400 tons a year.
This year, the Taliban are taking a "passive stance" toward cultivation, apparently putting less pressure on Afghan farmers to plant opium poppy. "They have called a moratorium of sorts as a way of keeping the stocks stable and supporting the price," Costa said.
He said the information came from undercover surveyors in Afghanistan who closely observed the autumn planting season and the buzz around markets where opium is traded.
The dynamics of the opium market pointed up the problems American and NATO forces face as they try to tamp down the narcotics trade. Eradication itself can drive up the price and put more money into the hands of the Taliban, while alienating poor Afghans who depend on the crop for their livelihoods.
He has suggested an emphasis not on eradication of poppy crops once they are planted, but on disrupting the trade by hitting the open-air markets where opium is bought and sold, the convoys that transport it and the labs where it is processed into more potent drugs.
NATO countries agreed to the logic of such an approach at a meeting in Budapest in October, Costa said, but he added that for many years, "The international community has undervalued the role of narcotics in creating the conditions for insurgency in Afghanistan."
Despite the still-high opium output, he was encouraged that an estimated one million fewer Afghans were involved in opium cultivation this year. The reasons varied, and included drought in some provinces beyond the south. But it also appeared to reflect some progress among provincial governors and shuras, or local councils, in persuading farmers not to plant poppy, Costa said.
Part of the incentive for farmers was the expectation of government assistance if they planted legal crops, he said. But higher prices for food crops also helped. The revenue from wheat, for instance, has tripled since 2007, the United Nations said.
But without better economic opportunities, poppy will remain an attractive alternative for many in Afghanistan, the source of more than 90 percent of the world's opium. Growth has lagged so badly, Costa noted, that the drug trade still accounts for a third of the Afghan economy. Other estimates put it at as much as one-half.
Any progress this year remained vulnerable, he warned. The biggest threat was if insecurity continued to spread to previously stable parts of Afghanistan, as it has in recent months. Could the United Nations, NATO and U.S. forces keep up the declines in opium cultivation in the face of decreased security? "The answer is no," Costa said.
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hockeyplyr1057
Music Lover
Registered: 03/20/07
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: veggie]
#9330333 - 11/29/08 01:41 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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hm and maybe legalizing/decriminalizing it might stop the taliban from being funded? guess they havent thought of that yet...
-------------------- All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. -Gandalf
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sparkplug
Stranger
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: hockeyplyr1057]
#9331608 - 11/29/08 11:42 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
hockeyplyr1057 said: hm and maybe legalizing/decriminalizing it might stop the taliban from being funded? guess they havent thought of that yet...
Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: sparkplug]
#9331826 - 11/29/08 12:27 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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> Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
Who the @#$! are you to tell me what I can or cannot put into my body? How would you like it if I was the one to decide if you are mature enough to have sex or not. There is no real difference between the two. Stupid people having children are more of a burden on society than stupid people hooked on 'smack'.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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DragonChaser
Ice in Her Ass and Pussy
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: sparkplug]
#9332230 - 11/29/08 01:53 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
sparkplug said: Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
Guess you haven't read the studies where prescription heroin is provided to addicts and violent crime drops suddenly while overall health and well-being of addicts increases, have you?
Idiot.
-------------------- My name is Mud
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lumibles
Lurker
Registered: 04/23/08
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: hockeyplyr1057]
#9332237 - 11/29/08 01:53 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
The dynamics of the opium market pointed up the problems American and NATO forces face as they try to tamp down the narcotics trade. Eradication itself can drive up the price and put more money into the hands of the Taliban, while alienating poor Afghans who depend on the crop for their livelihoods.
So they want to disrupt the sale at the market instead and still keep the demand and price for opium up? At least it may not completely alienate and starve the afghan people.
Now they just need another 10 years to figure out that disrupting the trade at all just plays into the hands of the Taliban.
-------------------- Reality is a crutch for people who can't cope with drugs. ~Lily Tomlin Did you know America ranks the lowest in education but the highest in drug use? It's nice to be number one, but we can fix that. All we need to do is start the war on education. If it's anywhere near as successful as our war on drugs, in no time we'll all be hooked on phonics. ~Leighann Lord
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iamconfused
Happily insane since '06
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: lumibles]
#9333683 - 11/29/08 06:45 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Guess you haven't read the studies where prescription heroin is provided to addicts and violent crime drops suddenly while overall health and well-being of addicts increases, have you?
Once people are addicted, it makes sense to have some kind of a heroin prescription program, but is the average addict as healthy as the average non-addict? I don't have any official data, but I'm going to say no.
Now, I'm all for decriminalizing heroin (just destroy the heroin and leave the people alone, which would still leave enough heroin around for people that really wanted it), but I'm not so sure that making heroin legal would be a good idea. It's kind of like making suicide legal. While it might not make complete sense to make suicide illegal, by making it illegal, you give the people that care about a suicidal person the legal right to get them help. I would want the same for heroin addicts. If it were completely legal, people could use heroin until they finally killed themselves and there would be no way to legally stop them.
Now, I know someone will say, "people drink themselves to death and that's legal", and that's true, but alcohol is not as addicting as heroin. And some drugs need to be legal, because people will always want them and it makes it less of a hassle for society. I just think legalized heroin would make those problems A LOT worse.
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DepthToTheCore
JeeBuzz
Registered: 05/05/04
Posts: 3,649
Loc: Australia brah
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: Seuss]
#9334008 - 11/29/08 07:47 PM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
Who the @#$! are you to tell me what I can or cannot put into my body? How would you like it if I was the one to decide if you are mature enough to have sex or not. There is no real difference between the two. Stupid people having children are more of a burden on society than stupid people hooked on 'smack'.
QFT
I agree 100%. Cannot stand the ignorance of some people. As you said, who are you to tell me what i can and can't ingest.
-------------------- "Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music." - George Carlin
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suburbanned
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: DepthToTheCore]
#9335485 - 11/30/08 02:07 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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All drugs should be legalized. Who is going to start using, crack, meth, heroin, etc. just because it is legal?? I doubt very, very, VERY few.
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KrishnaDreamer
I bleed nicotine...
Registered: 09/23/07
Posts: 4,132
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: sparkplug]
#9335853 - 11/30/08 04:35 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
sparkplug said:
Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
yeah, kinda like how weed should never be legalized either; could you imagine the masses of people stoned off their asses not doing shit? or the masses of people who would probably be too stoned and drive off a cliff or run over children?
think about the children, please.
iamconfused said:
Quote:
but alcohol is not as addicting as heroin
false, and what about nicotine? nicotine is just as addictive as alcohol, cocaine, or heroin. BAN NICOTINE!
-------------------- Everybody's a ninja...
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MHbound
Ballin Out At All Cost
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: KrishnaDreamer]
#9336088 - 11/30/08 07:20 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Yea, I can go get legal heroin right now...Give me 30 minutes, and it's done.
So, the difference is.....
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zathis
Thank you Come again!
Registered: 06/23/08
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Re: Even for Taliban, too much opium [Re: Seuss]
#9336143 - 11/30/08 07:54 AM (15 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Seuss said: > Yeah thats what we need, legal smack.
Who the @#$! are you to tell me what I can or cannot put into my body? How would you like it if I was the one to decide if you are mature enough to have sex or not. There is no real difference between the two. Stupid people having children are more of a burden on society than stupid people hooked on 'smack'.
agreed, even though I'd never mess around with that shit, everyone should have the right to choose for themselves
-------------------- yay no more peen spam!
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