Editor's Note: Viktor Ivanov is the Director of Russia's Federal Service for the Control of Narcotics. The views expressed in this article are solely those of Viktor Ivanov.
By Viktor Ivanov - Special to CNN
In early September, the upper house of the Afghan parliament accused the international community of failing to wage a successful fight against drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan. This accusation is supported, in their view, by the growth of the heroin manufacturing industry in the country to an estimated worth of about $50 billion.
Equally disappointing is the conclusion of the U.S. Congress Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control, co-chaired by Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Grassley, which acknowledges the absence of distinctive results of international efforts in Afghanistan to combat drug production. Both senators draw attention to the need to destroy opium poppies as the main way of eliminating drug production.
Also discouraging is that the United Nations estimates that in the decade since U.S. and NATO military operations began in Afghanistan, Afghan heroin has killed a million young people in Eurasia. Moreover, shortly after the start of military operations, it came to the United States itself and, according to American experts, about two million Americans have become addicts. U.S. Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman said earlier this year that drug trafficking from Afghanistan poses a threat not only for Russia but for the United States as well.
What has stymied progress in the fight against Afghan drug production? There are three main causes.
First, the most effective tactical approach to combating drug production—crop extermination—is not applied in Afghanistan today. Simply put, if there were no crops, there would be no drugs. Rather, current strategies focus on strangling drug trafficking routes, which are difficult to expose and extremely criminalized. Considering that trafficking routes in Eurasia and Central Asia cover more than 25 million square kilometers, whereas all opium poppy fields in Afghanistan comprise no more than 1,300 square kilometers—20 thousand times smaller than the overall trafficking territory—it seems misguided to focus on the former.
A more effective approach would be to begin at the root of the process, where the crops grow, and introduce appropriate legal norms so that land where drug crops are discovered could be expropriated and owners strictly punished. The application of effective measures against land owners with crops of opium poppies would make anti-drug programs more targeted, tied as they are to the people behind the trade as opposed to a regional administration.
Second, the current approach to combating drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan is ideological. Current strategies focus on the movement and finances of the Taliban, which, even the U.S. State Department has conceded, is the beneficiary of only a minority of drug profits—less than $150 million—compared to the $50 billion in total revenues of Afghan heroin traffickers. As a result, powerful crime syndicates remain outside the focus of the world's attention and are sufficiently resourced to bribe officials, influence policies of other states and, perhaps, to fund international organizations.
This approach sacrifices anti-drug missions to geopolitical objectives. This is not dissimilar to the situation in Noriega’s Panama, with respect to which the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Drugs and International Operations of the U.S. Senate concluded: “In some ways foreign policy considerations impair the ability of the United States to wage war against drugs. Foreign policy priorities … from time to time delayed, hindered or directly contradict enforcement efforts aimed at preventing the diversion of drugs into the United States.”
Third, in the fight against drug production there is virtually no use of modern digital technology. In the era of iPhone and GPS, this is anachronistic at best. The time has come to incorporate digital systems into the fight against drug production. I would like to introduce Russia’s initiative for digital measures to eliminate Afghan drug production: the Digital Poppy Road Map.
We propose creating an interactive map as an informational resource available to all people to consolidate information on Afghan drug production in one place. It would record all relevant information on crops, drug labs, warehouses and routes of transit. The goal of this project will be to consolidate this information so that it can be constantly revised and updated by a number of parties.
The map will identify key drug production infrastructure and supply hubs, opium and marijuana fields, opium markets and bazaars, drug laboratories, drug holdings, trade paths, etc. Such a map will enable authorities to identify and localize the exact infrastructure contributing to the production of these brands, which will give a new understanding of this complex issue.
Placing such a map in the public eye will enable us to coordinate anti-drug trafficking assignments to the appropriate authorities. This will promote transparency and cooperation among key international players in the Afghan anti-trafficking movement.
According to our estimates, tens of billions of dollars a year are spent on anti-drug programs without much success. Thorough digitization can be done for just $150 million a year, by our estimates. The digitization of the fight against drug production would require the close cooperation of Russia, the United States and other global bodies. It is an affordable, effective and badly needed tool against the scourge of the global drug trade.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of Viktor Ivanov.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Yes, the Russians have been complaining about the surge of drug addicts in the country and put the blame on the Americans' war on terror in Afghanistan. The alleged drug revenues in Afghanistan are estimated to $50 billion, while the Taliban might benefit only a fraction – $150 million. Well, who are the major keyplayers in the drug trade? The Afghan government I suppose!
How about this – we buy the opium from the poor farmers and use it to make pharmaceutical opiates? That way the money stays out of the dealers hands, and actually helps the poor farmers, who will grow it no matter what anyone does. Instead of allowing Australia, Turkey, and a few other nations to have a monopoly on phamaceutical-directed poppy cultivation, why don't we allow Afghans to participate as well? There is no logical argument against this.
One counterpoint is the fact that the Afghan government lacks the capacity to regulate it.
Yes with the help of Noriega.
@Ivanka Ivanov: The Afghani leadership, national or provincial, is VERY effective in organizing the trade to fill THEIR pockets.
The CIA is making all the money off the drug trade in the world. Why do you think it's illegal. The CIA works best under illegal conditions.
Yeah, it's all about da money!
WHERE are the opium poppies being grown? Where are they being processed into heroin? Afghanistan. Who is skimming off most of the money? Afghanistan's corrupt politicians and the Taliban! But, Karzai wants the U.S. to leave....but please stop the opium problem before you go; please stop the Taliban problem before you go; please rebuild our economy and agriculture before you go; please keep the dollars coming AS YOU LEAVE. We Afghani rulers are too busy taking care of business filling our own pockets to be bothered solving OUR NATION'S problems.
One "tough love" solution comes to mind: before we leave, use our leftover stock of Agent Orange to get rid of the opium poppies, then let Karzai and Co. run their own nation (they might have to dig into their own pockets, but, hey, they've been stashing it away for years while OUR soldiers died for THEIR country. Even the Russians had enough sense to "declare victory" and get the h*ll out! What are we waiting for???
Just MOAB the poppy fields (that is short for "mother of all bombs",the biggest non-nuclear bomb on Earth). This would be proceeded by a flyer drop so as to provide adequate warning to mitigate "collateral damage". Then after the applicable poppy fields are incinerated and/or obliterated, any dead people who were there were fairly warned up front. If the Afghans don't like, too bad. Message to Afghanistan? Don't grow poppies.
Any plan that does not include unilateral poppy field destruction irrespective of government consent will never work period.
Here is the problem, the directed focus on Opium has been placed on dealers and traffickers, yes the simple solution is to take out the fields, but therein lies the problem. The people are so poor this is their only means of a cash crop with a high yield. In some places, even in the province we're operating in the Taliban come in and tell farmers to grow poppy or they will be killed. We aren't allowed to simply burn the fields because due to the Pashtunwali, they then HAVE
to take revenge on us for honor's sake. They then enlist their family, then their village, then there are another 100 fighters that now side with the Taliban, it's known as the accidental guerilla effect. There is also the problem of GIRoA (Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) due to the inherint corruption (I've no doubt you've heard) that they also have their hands in the opium trade. Therefore, they will erradicate the poppy fields of their enemies, but not the ones from whicdh they profit. Yes the simple solution is to burn the fields, but bear in mind doing so will create more Taliban that we have to turn around and kill as opposed to a farmer who lives in a mud house and just wants to be left alone.
Does anyone remember this same insanity that was in SE Asia with their simplistic notions of crop replacement? The Chinese own the roads and dictated what is hauled in the roads. So, guess the only thing that could be transported, the crops that we paid millions for them to grow? guess again....
It would also seem they do not have a drug problem – we have one here in the US...
The issues are far too complex for simplistic "solutions" that only make matters worse – all to the benefit of the Big Boys, and hurt the small ones.
I always like to ask the question - why? Why must we do something about poppy growth? Has there been a significant growth in heroin use in the US? not that I am aware of.
So i ask again – why must we do something about this issue?
It is not the 70's the vets are on big pharma, the majority of the world want to be awake, not have their heads in the toilet and pass out on the tiles. Hence the meth labs all over the golden triangle.
It's quite funny that back in 2001 the Taliban have almost eliminated the production of opiates. But since the NATO invasion of Afghanistan that year, drug production has risen to an all time high!!! All because this country couldn't resist bullying yet another country. This is clearly the fault of George W. Bush, his henchmen and nobody else!!!
Are you sure the CIA is not profiting from this? They did this during the Vietnam War. The British did this to the Chinese during the Opium Wars. Intelligence agencies are not accountable to anyone.
Thank you, who. What you stated above couldn't be closer to the truth!
People are so idiotic. IF there was NO DEMAND, obviously there would be no supply. It's very simple. So simple in fact, it goes over the head of most trying to figure out what to do about those evil-doers. Has anyone ever asked yourself, is MY child ordering or paying for these drugs? What about my own GOVERNMENT? They got caught LYING about the Gulf of Tonkin false-flag incident luring us into the mess in Vietnam. They got caught smuggling cocaine during the Reagan years, Mena, Arkansas was a drop off point for tons of coke during the Clinton yrs. with his blessing. Now, this. Of course the U.S. is getting some of the profits concerning Afghan Heroin. When it comes to MONEY, you can surely bet, there will be an American SOMEWHERE in the picture. WE MUST TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN LOVED ONES! I promise you! NO ONE else will. Drug addiction in America is OUR problem. We must ensure our loved ones do not get involved with this poison. Stop expecting others to do your job! That is raising our children.
Thank you, Javier. How so true that is about our very crooked government. Their has always been corruption in Washington which has now grown to an all time high!
You're right ab out the past, but this is a different kind of war. We're trying to beat a terrorist organization and lay a foundation that the Afghan people can build upon so we can get the hell out. We're not trying to corrupt the population by allowing the growth of heroin to pose a problem for the government that we need to be strong. You have it backwards in this case. In the past, the drugs were used as a weapon to beat the opposition by corrupting the people and posing them useless. The only way to achieve any sort of victory in Afghanistan is to do the exact opposite; nation build.
Good point of questioning CIA interaction given their Contra connections of the past.
Export war so they can import drugs. Gotta love the CIA.
McCarthy, are you on opiates again?
Let's revisit history correctly this time. I'm no Bush supporter but back in 2001 the USA was attacked resulting in the deaths of 2996 people. We found that the Taliban was harboring the people that did this. We asked to have them turned over. The Taliban refused. We told the Taliban if they did not turn the terrorists over, we would have no choice but to come get them. The Taliban said "come get them then". SO WE DID.
So stop re-writing history. Had the Taliban turned over Osama Bin Laden and his group when they were asked, this never would have happened. Moral of the story is: don't blame the victim here.
Osama was "found" in Pakistan. How do we know he was not there the entire time. We know nothing, only what the powers that be tell us. There is no evidence Al-Qaeda was a real group let alone that we found and killed Osama. Most people that post on here are idiots. Learn some social skills and go get a job. We should worry about our local townships/municipalities/boroughs/counties. That is whats important.
Don't forget to mention our presence in the Middle East due to the Chinese. Probably more to do with than the Taliban
and Osama. It is good to protect the oil and the land area. Never could figure the Paki's and Afgan's total lack of understanding of the new world dynamics. Mongolia is discovering this now and after we pull out, the Afgans may be
the next benefactors of this understanding. Maybe India and the rest of Southeast Asia. The tendrils are becoming longer.
The evident plan was to increase drug production to help organized crime gain control over failed states in the former Soviet Union and to help organized crime in Russia achieve stability for a nearly bankrupt Russia. Stability was better than chaos when nuclear weapons might also have been for sale, the planners thought. And now organized crime has become entrenched in Russia and elsewhere. The "oil" in Aghanistan quite obviously has been opium.
All because America couldn't resist bullying another country? Were you born on September 12, 2001?
The Taliban eliminated the crop in 2000 but it rebounded which had the effect of driving up prices. insurgents probably stockpiled their supply so they could profit from the higher prices.
The Taliban eliminated the crop in 2000 but it rebounded which had the effect of driving up prices. insurgents probably stockpiled their supply so they could profit from the higher prices.
The Russian response to curb opium production in Afghanistan is impractical.
On the first point – the suggestion that crop elimination is the most practical solution is incorrect because crop elimination would reduce insurgent and criminal revenues by a small amount. Opium prices are lowest at the farm-gate and tend to increase in value as the drugs move through the value chain. A better solution is targeting the drug trade at the trafficker level where profits are higher.
The third point is the most impractical. Attempting to throw technology at the problem will only go so far in a country that lacks basic governance and security capacity. GPS and other technologies sound nice, but western applications in a country that lacks basic infrastructure and is largely agrarian is impractical. There are also complicating factors such as an understanding of land registries and other related factors. Land registries are poor.
I totally agree with you that introducing technology is a country that is not equipped to handle it is impractical. Reflecting on the first point though, if the drug distribution were to be stopped at the farm gate then it would not have have the chance to snowball and increase revenue. Therefore reducing the amounts of cash in the criminals pockets.
I do not disagree with, but here are some considerations.
Emphasizing crop elimination over targeting traffickers is the better option. In the case of crop elimination, there is the possibility that corruption biases who's crops are eradicated. One runs the risk of targeting the "farmer" along with wealthier landowners. This corrupting effect also occurs with targeting traffickers, but the risk of targeting the wrong individual is minimized.
Regardless, opium cultivation is against the law and farmers' crops should be eliminated. Instead of emphasizing one approach over another, a more comprehensive approach is desirable – all elements of supply reduction should complement one another.
I do not disagree with, but here are some considerations.
Emphasizing interdiction over crop elimination is the better option. In the case of crop elimination, there is the possibility that corruption biases who's crops are eradicated. One runs the risk of targeting the "farmer" along with wealthier landowners. This corrupting effect also occurs with targeting traffickers, but the risk of targeting the wrong individual is minimized.
Regardless, opium cultivation is against the law and farmers' crops should be eliminated. Instead of emphasizing one approach over another, a more comprehensive approach is desirable – all elements of supply reduction should complement one another.
Another issue here is, from the medical standpoint there are far worse substances than heroin. Fentanyl analogs and other synthetics that are thousands of times the potency of heroin are already on the street. If opium supplies dropped, these synthetic narcotics would fill the void quickly, causing orders of magnitude more OD deaths. It's time to reevaluate the entire "war on drugs" approach – more and more countries are realizing that limited decriminalization linked with availability of clinical care leads to long term reduction in the number of addicts.
Of course, this will lead to huge profit losses for the criminal enterprises and their corrupt government partners.....anything but that, right? Look at Mexico these days.......who wants that for anyone?
Steve, agree, but the problem you have outlined is broader than Afghanistan and in that country heroin is the primary issue.
Get real – poppy fields are stationary, while traffickers are not only highly mobile but easily replaced. The fields are the primary problem – without them there could be no traffickers and the reverse is absolutely untrue.
True statement. See my previous response. Eradication is a good option but should be conducted locally and cannot be negotiable. Eradication is probably tougher to implement – in the case of interdiction, Afghan authorities can partner with NATO to target traffickers, whereas eradication requires a large force protection element which may be harder. The biggest factor is political will along with security.
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In the following, a concept will be discussed, that meets those criteria
in a broad way by replacing opium poppy (10.000 – 25.000 parts morphine per million) in Afghanistan by poppy that contains less morphine (maximum 200 parts morphine per million). Such seeds would have to be dispersed over all
potential poppy fields as simultaneously as possible with the sowing of opium poppy. Best, by aeroplanes, because this would enable to cover a huge area with low efforts and without specific dangers.
Poppy farmers would be forced to ‘individualise’ the plants after sprouting, which means that the seedling has to be given an adequate space to grow. Only then, seed vessels which are big enough are able to form.
Due to the impossibility to differentiate between the two kinds of poppy before their bloom, farmers would not be able to sort out the plants containing less morphine. (e.g. species like Miezko, Przemko, ZenoMorphex; bred in Western Europe; some of them being cultivated since years)
The spread poppy seeds would not seriously endanger cultivated corn or other crop plants. Poppy sprouts slowly and can hardly compete with other plants. Regarding this, wheat and root crop would prevail easily.
This means, that Poppy of a low morphine content is virtually harmless to the country’s flora and therefore this method eliminates environmental risks (unlike herbicide-usage or harmful fungi). Some of the typical ‘drug provinces’ in southern Afghanistan would be qualified for a testing phase.
About 100 tons poppy of low morphine content would be needed to cover the 200.000 hectare (approximated) of acreage. The seeds costs would be about 2.000.000 € per procedure – peanuts when considering the usual amount of money, what is invested in anti-drug activities (not to mention the risks for the persons involved into those actions).
Poppy plants offer a broad spectrum to be profitable. Its seeds are providing the chance to extract a valuable edible oil: It contains up to 70% linoleic acid, 20-30% oleic acid and 10-20% palmitic acid.
Per hectare a crop yield of 500 litre oil would be achieved, which could serve as an uncomplicated diesel additive.
"The Star" , Toronto: http://www.thestar.com/article/695236
http://www.afghanemb-canada.net/public-affairs-afghanistan-embassy-canada-ottawa/daily-news-bulletin-afghanistan-embassy-canada-ottawa/2009/news_articles/september/09142009.html
Napalm would be faster, cheaper, and far more conclusive.
you are right one good bomb and it is the end of the story why send our army over there you will never clean up that country it is a cluture that doesn't understand to live in peace look around iraq and afghanistan
More d-bags.
stop ordering our troops to protect the &^%$&* stuff... DUH... and at the same time...your ordering americans to guard poison that comes over here... stop locking up heroin and opium addicts and send them to get help like at a drug rehab...maybe. just maybe....that may help just a little dont you think?
NAPALM WOULD WORK JUST FINE
You can make your own, Tide and Gasoline.
It seems to me that the global bodies should have more important things to worry about, rather than trying to impose their beliefs on drug use. I'm not endorsing the use of heroin, or other illicit drugs, however, with a global population of 6 billion+, a few million people addicted to smack doesn't seem like that big of a deal.
Excellent point... as in all things ~drug-war~, "The remedy is worse than the disease." (Sir Francis Bacon)
No big deal? How about the fact that it finances terrorism?
Poppy plants are so pretty. I think I'm gonna grow some.
i have same thought. I second.
You're not going to come close to solving this problem if you don't give the people growing the opium crops some sort of alternative to bring in income.
Dave, you are spot on on this.
Its not the local farmers getting rich. Its the warlords who control the farmers. Classic feudalism. If you destroy their meager livelehood, it only breeds resentment and extemism.
A combination of low-morphine poppies combined with a legitmiate source to sell them – big pharma- will work in the short term. But alternatives need to be found that work in those climate conditions.
Dave, you nailed it.
While I don't agree with the drug trade in any way, these people are trying to make a living any way they can. It's easy money for them, they dont want to stop growing it. There is no solution for this problem.
farming isnt easy money.
Most grow it out of greed rather than need.
What can the farmers grow to make the same money they make from growing poppies ? Rice,wheat, beans i
dont think so. So they will allways grow poppies like they have for hundreds of years. Maybe the Pharmaceutical
companys would buy the crops and save lives.
Sorry Mike. Didn't read yours... much more succinct. Agree fully. I think we're too stupid, though.
Pot or cocaine might work in that climate.
we have to fund our war somehow
why are we interfering with none of our business?
How about this: There are tens of millions of severe, chronic and intactable pain sufferers in Russia, the US and worldwide. Because of the "political dynamite" that surrounds opium in all its forms, pharma companies manufacture artificial opioids and then sell them to suffering patients at exorbitant prices. The Afghans do one thing and they do it better than anybody else: POPPIES AND OPIUM. The USA, G7 or 9 or the UN or whoever can do it should mandate that ALL legally prescribed opioid products must originate from 100% certified, natural Afghan poppies. Pharma companies could even invest in actual pharma factories and export mechanisms IN-COUNTRY. That's jobs and exports and stability in Afghanistan for the first time IN HISTORY. They would have absolutely no need, then, to sell their product illegally through organized crime and terrorists and rest of it. Afghanistan would be a world player in medicines that people around the world need at the most difficult and vulnerable times of their lives. Afghanistan would quickly become synonymous with RELIEF OF PAIN instead of the source and victim of so much suffering. Ya think??? Nahhh... let's just keep killing them and poisoning their land. After all, that's what the "developed countries" are really good at.
Your idea is the absolute best solution. Opium and its derivatives are the longest used pain killers in the history of mankind. The governments, bought out by the big pharma, are forcing pills down our throats to kill pain, and then drag the "bad drug" lawsuits through the courts for years when the chemical pain killers side effects become known.
And what about the Afghan government ability to regulate it?
What they failed to mention in the piece is that NATO has largely avoided eradication at the local level because of resistance to destroying the only cash crop that Afghani farmers can grow to make a living. Food crops pay nowhere as well and are usually hijacked before the farmer can get them to market. So to protect the farmer, NATO focuses on the processing and transport which is a much more difficult to interdict.
Remember Nancy Reagan. Just say NO.Problem solved.
I smell rat in whole thing. Racket and reason to jack up price.
Why not do what the U.S. government does for farmers here? Pay farmers NOT to grow certain crops, meanwhile replanting the crops that used to be grown? That's a lot cheaper than drug interdiction, etc....
Major issue here is being overlooked. Drug production is the ONLY economy of Afghanistan. There would be no other form of finance if it weren't the the drug production and its sale.
Everyone would be quick to say to do away with the drug fields. It's the ONLY source of income in the country.
Someone needs to be able to replace that when something else.
Difficult. That nation has never had a real economy to speak of. They have been traders since forever. Kabul is one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world. Trade is what they need. make them a giant Dubai. Thats what they where for a very long time anyways.
Isnt the american forces gaurding the fields?
How can 50 billion $ worth of drugs, manage to get out of a country being occupied by america and its allies?
The same way that Osama Bin Laden lived in the country un-bothered for a decade.
So simple. Stop being nice about it. Go to one village at a time. Give them everything they need to grow real food not drugs. Help them remove the drugs. Then come back in a few months. If drugs are back you go to the farmers home kick them out and burn it to the ground and salt the fields. You then go to village B..Village B wont ever grow drugs. May not be nice but these are ignorant peasants show of force always proves a point.
What a d-bag.
UK is growing opium poppys to supply themselves since there is a world shortage!!! CIA is definitely in charge has been since they discovered this goldmine in the 70's with vietnam and CHINA WHITE and COLOMBIA with COCA!!!! Why do you think the US is in those countries HA HA
I am glad I am not the only one telling the truth about America being the number one drug dealer in the world.
Why not just legalize drugs, allow those who want to use it to get as much as they want, tax the sales of the drug. That would help to solve the addict problem, users get as much as they want they cease to be users and become corpses, the governments would have the revenue from the sales, the morticians would have the business from disposing of the corpses, and we would have fewer crackheads to deal with. its a WIN WIN solution.
You are right and your solution would work, little chance of our idiot politicians doing anything that works.
In the US, Liberal Democrats demand to use mind altering drugs. Clearly, drug users in the US support Afghan and Mexican drugs. This support results in thousands of murders! THOUSANDS OF MURDERS! The US should extradite drug users for prosecution to these countries for murder. Let Afghanistan and Mexico get as much money as they can from the murder support group and put those that don't pay in jail! Illegal drugs would stop within two years! Both Afghanistan and Mexico would get a huge influx of money to help redirect drug farming to food farming. I dare these two countries to demand that Obama extradite US drug users! They should go to a world court and demand that the US give them these supporters of murder.
Hahaha very funny. You can't be that stupid. It's the US drug war that causes all the murders. If countries like MX, etc. want the money the US offers, they have to turn up the heat on their narcos. What happens when you turn up the heat on criminals and gangsters? Do they just go away and thank their lucky stars that they didn't get caught up in your big, bad dragnet? No. I think, if you're honest and not a sh!t-for-brains, you have to agree they will start shooting, as they always have. Just like prohibition in the 20s. All because American conservatives – particularly the evangelical right, tea party, etc., think all drugs and the people who consume them (poor, non-whites, people of all ethnicities with higher IQs) "are just evil things, don't ya know".
The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome each time.
Actually I'm convinced that most of the extreme right wing are on some sort of drugs. Silly person!
Most of the righty-tighties NEED to be on some kind of medication. Anti-stupid pills would be a good start. Then, a good prescription for Get-Your-News-From-Someplace-Other-Than-FoxNews pills, followed-up with a very strong dosage of STFU-acillan.
I seriously hope this person is joking or does not vote.
Sew a seed in Crawford Ranch!
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One word: NUKE. render the land un usable to grow anything.
Did somebody just fart?
Let me clue you in, just in case you're not aware of history – prohibition is never successful; NEVER ... EVER! NOWHERE, NO HOW! Never in history has prohibition been a success.
What if we just bought all the opium we could get our hands on and destroyed it? That seems like a cheap way of cutting the supply to the black market.
And what would happen the next year when the crop rebounded? Bad precedent, don't you think?
Once again folks this idea that we can dictate to countries regarding drug production/usage is nonsense and a major contributor to our loss of standing within the world view. It's time we drop the old ineffective "war on drugs"policies and approach the issue from a non prohibition, revenue robbing angle. Take the profit out of illegal drugs (which is not too hard to do since just about all of them can be grown at home), regulate the manufacture and distribution for resale purposes and focus on prevention education (not incarceration) and medical treatment. If our goal is truly to reduce the role of organized crime and reduce drug abuse the most effective policy is legalization. Where in the world did we ever get this notion that criminalizing personal behaviour (and no I'm not talking about murder and other stupidly extreme and unrealistic extrapolations of freedom arguments) is ever effective at preventing it?
I've always wondered why the US, with all their technological advantages didn't do something to stop opium production. My conclusion, the US doesn't want to offend any of the big wheels in Afghanistan. It's sort of a corollary to the US policy of supporting dictators and pouring millions of dollars into countries that will give us their support in the UN. You know, buy your friends.
It is because America is the biggest drug dealer in the world
There is no way to stop it only slow it down some. We know this because our own drug war is an epic fail.
I disagree with your opinion. I want people to find the way without giving up their hope.
The entire middle east is well known for thousands of years of cutthroats and thieves. You think sweet talk and persuasion are going to sway a way of life? I got some land down south I could sell ya too . . . they all pretend to be muslim when it suits but simple observation demonstrates they are the most primitive corrupt folks in the world. A big stick is all they will understand.
Don't buy it... but your not going to stop it... MJ even has some draw backs but gesshh so does breathing...
The poppy is one of the biggest agricultural cash crops in Afghanistan. It is used for many things other than the production of opiates. We have yet to eradicate these poppy plantations in Afghanistan because their economy will collapse. We've been making a mess of their country for ten years... but we ain't about to take dinner off their tables.
One hand washes the other.
Just don't do dope and you won't have to worry!
First, the most effective tactical approach to combating drug production—crop extermination—is not applied in Afghanistan today.
Second, the current approach to combating drug production and trafficking in Afghanistan is ideological.
Third, in the fight against drug production there is virtually no use of modern digital technology.
There you have it. Mr. Ivanov seems to have boiled the matter down to its most basic parts. They are not easy problems to fix, but they are the problems which must be fixed plain and simple.
Not true – Afghan authorities do conduct crop eradication in Afghanistan.
Duh ... supply and demand. Stop the demand, i.e. illegal drug use in affluent countries and the supply will dry up. Quit blaming these countries for supplying the hedonistic dope escapes of the rich and affluent. It's the user not the supplier who is at fault.
I gotta big stick down south you gnaw on.
How about some DC-3's from Nam and some Round-up.
Does anyone want to stop and question whether allowing "foreign policy" to override anti-drug concerns is actually a bad thing? I would say that if you support putting anti-drug efforts ahead of foreign policy goals, you must be hitting the opium pretty hard yourself.
It's so obvious that it is obvious that our government and Nato really doesn't want to stop the drugs
Go into the regions where opium is grown – meet with the tribal leaders and offer them twice the market rate for their crops. Then pay the locals to harvest and collect the crop, and have the military transfer the harvest to a big incinerator surrounded by a brigade of M1-A2 tanks and helicopter gunships. Burn the crop inside the country and you cut off most of the world's heroin production, dry up the primary source of funding for the Taliban and much of organized crime.
What will they do when the crop rebounds the subsequent year?
Yessir, there's the guy that calls himself "Joseph Mcarthy", spouting more nonsense than bunch of monkeys in a roomful of typewriters! You betch, those wonderful Taliban folks should have been just left alone to torture and kill and opress in the name of the most bogus religion that's ever been invented – Islam. I betcha you force your wife and daughters to cover their faces when they go out or be whipped and maybe killed when they return, right? The U. S. should have never done anything at all to retaliate for the 9-11 attacks, right "Joe?" And I suppose you'd argue that, even though the life of the average person in Iraq right now is ten thousand times better than it was while Sadman Insane was running the country, Iraq would be a whole lot better off if we had left Hussein in power to continue killing hundreds of thousands of his own subjects every year – to continue starving his people while he thumbed his nose at the U. N.'s (tee hee) "resolutions," and to deny basic medicine and medical services to the citizens of Iraq, huh? Yep, Joe, that makes a whole lot of sense, doesn't it? And your ongoing, unfounded hatred of George W. Bush, who was so much a better President than Barak Obamanation will ever be, is a symptom of your pathological, unreasoning, idiotic liberalism. Put a cork in it, PLEASE, Joe!
first of all the sanctions do not help the people of a nation – it creates unnecessary suffering – secondly, you talk about life expectancy in Iraq – but you dont include those who died under the lies of WMDs in Iraq – thirdly, IAEA and people knew that there were no WMDs after the Gulf War but George W Bush was bent on the destruction of a nation and the killing of civilians. They lied to the world at the UN – they lied about yellow cake and Libby went to jail for revealing a source but was pardoned. Your views on Islam are based on a deep embedded hatred towards a people because you watch hannity or O'reily – What do you allow your daughters to wear – tongs and mini skirts – time for you to look around you and understand that we do not think as radically as you. So you go and torture the people and this works out better for you – Abu Graib – Attrocities of War and the prisons of Cuba – Penn State is a great example of the love we see in America – get real Mr. Evil
Just make sure you vote for the proper candidate next election – Im sure it will make all the difference in the world. Stop the Occupation – Free the people of Palestine – Archie Bunker may have worked in the 70s – but we are now living in a new century where there is no tolerance towards the bigotry, racism, arrogance, corruption and falsehoods of your nation. Did you not have enough blood on your hands by killing the native Indians. Your government took their land and look at the mess they made – fix your country before you point fingers at other nations around the world. Look at your history and all the millions who have died – for what – humanity – I dont think so. We all have faults – no one is perfect – but you sure do blow your own horn and spew venom from what could be a mouth. Go back to school and re-learn the history they taught – it was nothing but lies. So Christianity or Jewish might be a better choice for you – but they all have faults and they all committed crimes – so put on a head scarf and talk about virgins next time you open your bible – because the bible and Christianity also use those subjects – Stop listening to Pat Robertson the racist and learn how to become a more humane person.
Another "easy" solution to the problem. It's not about eliminating the source. Look what happened in the U.S. with Prohibition. The net effect was that money flowed into criminal hands that allowed them to expand into other illegal activities and become industries unto themselves. In more modern times drug dealing has allowed criminals to literally take over nations ( aka Mexico). The "War on Drugs" has and will continue to be an abysmal failure. Eliminate one source and another will quickly fill the void. It's about dealing with the demand, not the supply.
you cut off most of the supply, and you cut off demand. If it ain't there, no one can use it.
There would be no drug production issues in Afghanistan if we started wiping out their farmland. Target food crops, and the people will start using their dope farms for food – or starve, which will also work (for us).
Why should we even be trying to do this? The best solution to this would be to LEGALIZE THE DRUG TRADE AND MOVE ON! Jeez.... it's time to realize that most, if not almost all, of the problems with the illegal drug trade come from it being illegal, NOT the drugs themselves.
Let me first say I’ve been monaditadoring this thread for onmths and itsa0great.I wanted to add my peradspective on the use of JWH canadniboids. I’m an older, 60’s era fan of recreadational drugs just recently retired, and have beneadfitted greatly from careful use of JWH-018. It has analadgesic qualadities that, for someone like me with arthadritis and joint replaceadments, are aa0godsend.I’ve tried both the acetone bath (on an Interadnaadtional Oddities herb base) and the Everclear mini-shot. Ia0use aa0vapoadrizor on the herbs and mix the Everclear with Gatadoadrade. They both have their pros anda0cons:Acetone Bathed herbs: Pros — You get high quicker and you can modaderate the dose as you go. It also fades much quickly, making it posadsible to get high in aa0smaller time window. It’s aa0more acceptadable way to get high. Offer aa0friend aa0hit as you would with real cannabis.Cons — It’s hard to get the acetone out of the herbs propaderly. My initial try Ia0dried it for 6a0hours, at about 55 deg., in an open window, but Ia0still noticed some adverse side effects typical of acetone inhaladaadtion. Ia0ended up warming it in the oven for 1/2a0hour and the side effects went away, but it reduced the potency. In my future preadparadaadtions Ia0will use an elecadtric fan and stir the base for 10 – 12a0hours, but avoid heating it.Everclear shot: Pros — Really provides aa0solid stone for an extended period of time. It’s easier to get an even blend and preaddictadablea0dose.Cons — You really need to block out aa06a0hour window and be careful to not try to do anyadthing like operate machinery. It can come on slow and hard, suradprising you, hours later. Ia0took it on fairly empty stomadache and it took 45a0minutes for it to hit, vs. 5a0minutes using aa0vaporadizer. It’s also less acceptadable way socially. Telling someone you’ve mixed up aa0batch of high potency research chemadicals and offering them aa0shot to drink will usually get aa0negadative reaction.For both of these approaches, Ia0must emphasize, as others have on this forum, that you need to be really careful in handadling and adminadisadtering this stuff. Its very potent and requires respect. The doses and ratios are critadical. You shouldn’y be sprinkadling this stuff in joints or tossing some on your houkah bowl. Get aa0scale, measure careadfully, and double check your caladcuadlaadtions before you partake.There are side effects, which Ia0feel Ia0am probadably more sensaditive to than younger members of the forum. As you get past 60 your body proadcesses things less effectadively, causing you to notice things more, so Ia0may be aa0kind of canary in the coal mine. Ia0notice that JWH puts more demands on your liver and metaadbolism, as does canadnabis, so avoiding addiadtional stress on these (such as drinking alcohol or cafadfiene before or during use) can reduce these effects.What I’ve noticed for 24 – 48a0hours post-use are light headedadness, flataduadlance and headadache. Nothing major, but climbing stairs too quickly can cause you to take aa0seat, and you may notice you need to drink more fluids. It’s nothing serious, but believe me, getting stoned one night and getting out on the golf course the next day can be aa0chaladlenge if you don’t hydrate and eat propaderly. It’s comadparadable to to having 4 – 5 drinks of scotch for my mataadbolism. Your mileage maya0vary.
Screw heroin. I want some hand rubbed hash.
We need to just leave that place and just use it for Bombing practice when ever the natives get to acting funny...
Change our phone number and stop all payments .until they come around ......which they wont..
WE will never change anyone, We can only change ourselves.......
What do you mean stop the drug trade? The Taliban had pretty much stopped the drug trade, the year before America attacked them, Afghanistan only supplied about ten percent of the worlds Heroin. Since the ten years American troops have been in Afghanistan they have reclaimed 90% of the world market in Heroin. Last year American Marines were guarding poppy fields.
America is in Afghanistan so we can be in the drug business. It takes a lot of Heroin for the CIA to create all the chaos in the world and drugs are a big part of that. How do you think the Zetas learned to be in the drug trade? America trained the Zetas as a special military force equal to the Seals or Rangers, taught them the drug business then they went into business for themselves. The Farc in Columbia is a similar story.
We aren't the answer for stopping the drug trade, we are the cause of the drug trade.
The world can only stop the drug production if the the government has been handed over to the majority Pashto speaking People of Afghanistan. At present almost all the key/decisive positions are in the control of minority non Pashtuns whose only goal is to earn money and incourage instability in Afghanistan. Pashtuns are the real owners of Afghanistan and they have the ability to control allover Afghanistan once they have been provided their due share in the Afghan government and their concerns and fears are removed.
The farmers are responding to the market. They can make more raising poppies than any other crop. Eradicating them at the source requires that the farmer have something that is more lucrative. We are talking about a 3rd world country here, folks. These people see executions frequently, so destroying their crops won't faze them. Make it an incentive. We buy the opium and refine it, or offer them crops that will make them more $. The comments in the article are ludicrous for a problem of this magnitude. Get a grip on reality.
Why dont they try that technology in the united states first. Or do they fear that most of the population would be in jail?
You can't eliminate it. There is way too much legal and illegal demand.
the war on drugs and the war on terror – how about the war on corruption – if leaders really wanted to eliminate this problem they could.
One solution that wasn't listed here: Remove all the children and send them someplace safe. Then burn every living thing that walks, crawls, flies, or grows from the ground. This would serve a couple of purposes: 1., it would rid us of a whole nation of people that hate us and are committed to killing us, and 2., it would give us a big-a$$ parking lot for all of our next adventures in the Middle East. Oh yeah, and it would kill all of their poppies too.
For American hawks – they care more about the poppies than they would for the innocent people there. Mabye we should send the children to Penn State? Are you for real? Who is killing who?
I think that findinf the way is very difficult, but I want people to settle the problem someday.
A much less expensive solution would be to end Prohibition, and handle chronic use of intoxicants (regardless of variety) as strictly a medical problem. In real economic terms, a pound of opium is not worth more than about $10, and it would not fetch a penny more than that if it weren't for Prohibition law guaranteeing the Taliban orders-of-magnitude higher profits. The right way to destroy the $50B Afghan opium industry is with a pen, not a sword (or any number of lame ifonez).
I wonder what Americans would do if foreign troops came to the USA and started burning the Tobacco fields in Virginia? After all Tobacco kills more people every year than all illegal drugs combined!
Forget all this stuff and just legalize drugs. I don't do them and never have, but our current laws do nothing but make gangsters into millionaires, encourage violence, and waste government funds that we cannot afford. Let's put an end to the madness
You forgot Pakistani SI's role in poppy cultivation, processing and drug trafficking.
It's no secret that Pakistan with no major export earnings (apart from textiles, carpets, rice & mangoes) and ofcourse manpower (who repatriate billions of $ each year), and completely dependent on western aid, and Saudi largesse (free or heavily subsidized gas, financing) has its hands in every major criminal trade in the world!
In pursuit of its Jihadist goals and expansion of its Islamic bomb aresenal, Pakistan (led by the military & ISI) has been resorting to drug trafficking, counterfeit currency printing (dollar, Euro, Indian Rupees), stealing western technology (through its diaspora all over Europe & US e.g. A Q Khan, Afia Siddiqui etc.) & selling it to rogue nations like N.Korea, Libya, Iran.
Until & unless we tame this Pakistani demon, limit their diaspora in the west there's no way we can handle these issues......ever!
People like your CNN-GPS' own Mr. Fareed Zakaria, who tirelessly champions the cause of every Muslim issue anywhere in world (blaming America, Europe & Israel in the process) will NEVER EVER expose the role of his co-religionists whether in Pakistan, or his native India, or Chechnya, or the ME in the massive criminal dealings (incl. smuggling, counterfeiting, drug & human trafficking etc.)
A lot of these posts hyperfocus on the article. The big picture is the entire war on drugs. End it. Let the rejects who want to get high, do so. There will always be a part of our society that will be junkies. The sooner we accept that, the sooner we can lessen the amount of problems this war causes. I realize the junkies will still cause problems, but not on the scale of crazy problems the war on drugs causes. Remember there will ALWAYS be addicts causing problems for the rest of us. Never going to stop that. Let it sink in.......but ending this pointless war could fix a ton.
I don't know why they don't fly over the drug fields when found and spray a plant killer like roundup or similiar product to kill it.
With all of our technology we can't come up with a deases or fungus that could be spread all over the crop and prevent that crop and any future crops of the poppy?
I agree with many. the US should buy all of the crops and either destroy it or use it for medical reasons........ it is cheaper.
The war on drugs is a pathetic joke. Basically it is Prohibition Part DUNCE! Anyway there is a simple solution to the Afghan opium problem: burn all the opium and plant MARIJUANA in it's place. Once they all turn into stoners they won't care about the JIHAD!
This is stupid. These ideas are just ignorant.
There's a report on how the drug problem can become a strength for Afghanistan: http://www.worldreportnews.com/2/post/2012/02/graveyard-of-empires-fixing-afghanistans-drug-problem.html