Opium in England

Opium poppies are being legally cultivated for medicinal purposes in Great Britain - while the British Army is engaged in a counterproductive campaign to destroy the very same crop in Afghanistan:

A British company is recruiting farmers to cultivate opium to meet the growing demand for diamorphine in hospitals across the country.

The news comes as troops contine to struggle to contain the opium industry in Afghanistan. Figures due to be released by the United Nations next month are expected to show that the poppy crop has reached a record level. They are expected to show an increase in cultivated area to 166,000 hectares (410,000 acres).

Britain has spent £290 million on its counter-narcotics campaign in the country and is planning to spend an extra £22.5 million next year.

[...]

The possibility of buying opium from Afghan farmers, who illegally grow poppies, to meet the demand for diamorphine has been raised in the past. However, with the illegal Afghan crop providing 90 per cent of the hero-in trade in Britain alone, the possibility of medical uses for it has never been viewed as practical or realistic.

There is already enough legal opium on the market to cater for medical requirements. Nevertheless, Macfarlan Smith says that it is still dedicated to expanding British poppy production. All crops have to be authorised by the Home Office.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you can have a war on terror or a war on drugs, but you can't have both. I can't think of a more effective way to turn Afghans against us than to destroy their livelihood.

Damian P.

Update: Misha Glenny, writing in the Washington Post, explains how the "War on Drugs" is seriously undermining the Afghanistan campaign (and is hopelessly counterproductive pretty much everywhere else):

Poppies were the first thing that British army Capt. Leo Docherty noticed when he arrived in Afghanistan's turbulent Helmand province in April 2006. "They were growing right outside the gate of our Forward Operating Base," he told me. Within two weeks of his deployment to the remote town of Sangin, he realized that "poppy is the economic mainstay and everyone is involved right up to the higher echelons of the local government."

Poppy, of course, is the plant from which opium -- and heroin -- are derived.

Docherty was quick to realize that the military push into northern Helmand province was going to run into serious trouble. The rumor was "that we were there to eradicate the poppy," he said. "The Taliban aren't stupid and so they said, 'These guys are here to destroy your livelihood, so let's take up arms against them.' And it's been a downward spiral since then." (via InstaPundit)

Posted by damian at August 20, 2007 07:24 AM