Afghan Opium Crop Said Down Significantly By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan was down by about one-third from last year's record high, and he appealed for more foreign aid to help farmers grow legal crops. AP Photo Still, Afghan farmers have begun harvesting this year's crop, defying a U.S.-sponsored crackdown on the world's largest illegal narcotics industry. Karzai said his estimate was based on surveys from the United Nations and British officials, who are helping Afghan authorities curtail the drug trade. U.N. officials have said they will not release estimates of the crop for several months. "According to the surveys of the U.N. and the British government, there has been a 30-40 percent decrease in cultivation and we should continue our efforts," Karzai told a news conference in the Afghan capital. Production of opium, the raw material for heroin, has rocketed since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, sparking warnings that the former al-Qaida haven is fast turning into a "narco-state" despite the presence of more than 20,000 foreign troops. Last year, cultivation reached a record 323,700 acres and yielded nearly 90 percent of the world's supply. Afghan and foreign officials have said there are signs the crop production is down partly because farmers have switched to other crops, such as wheat, and because of the threat of eradication by Afghan police, including a special unit trained by the United States. Karzai warned foreign donors they must pour aid into the country's war-ravaged rural economy to prevent a violent backlash and a return to opium production. "Afghans are very hopeful for their future and confident about the country, that it is going toward reconstruction," he said. "But the international community has great responsibility. "There should be great assistance for the farmers so that instead of poppies they can grow something else. Otherwise, they have to turn back to their old life." The United States is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the counter-narcotics effort, arguing that the drug industry is now a bigger threat than Taliban-led militants maintaining a stubborn insurgency across the south and east. A reputed Afghan drug lord who officials accused of smuggling $50 million worth of heroin into the United States and operating his network with the protection of the Taliban was arrested in New York over the weekend. Bashir Noorzai was on the U.S. list of most-wanted drug kingpins. An indictment alleged that between 1990 and 2004 Noorzai and his organization provided demolitions, weapons and manpower to the Taliban, who, in exchange, allowed his business to flourish. Despite American and Afghan efforts, farmers were gathering resin from opium poppies Tuesday in the southern province of Kandahar, a key growing region targeted by eradication teams. Poppy crops were in full bloom along the main road west out of Kandahar, and farmers were quietly gathering the precious opium, which will likely end up as heroin in countries such as Britain or Russia. Mohammed Nahim, a 40-year-old working in the fields near the town of Maywand, said he had cultivated about 2 1/2 acres of land with poppy because assistance from the government or relief groups never materialized. "A lot of money is coming for our farmers. But we didn't get a penny, not one bag of wheat," Nahim told an AP reporter, clutching a black plastic bag filled with thick opium paste from his early-flowering crop. He said returns from opium were 10 times higher than from wheat and were the only way to cover the cost of hired tractors and diesel to pump water into his fields. Nahim and his neighbors said they were nervous about losing their crops to the eradication teams so close to harvest time — a factor that officials said contributed to violent clashes with farmers in Kandahar and other provinces in recent weeks. "Now I am very relieved," Nahim said. "This poppy is my gold."
i could care less never seen any here in south florida. even in the good old days opium that is i could care less for heroin and that you can find if you look for it even here . but the milder opium would had been cool to try.
Well, as I recall our government was saying that opium production would be cut substantially with the overthrow of the Taliban. The exact opposite happened. Opium production actually increased 20-fold. There have been reports of heroin showing up at festivals like Bonnaroo. It's interesting that 90% of the world's heroin comes from Afghanistan.
while nothing beats heroin , most people take strong synthetic pain killer with morphines... it gives a very close high to heroin . either way i dont want junkies around unless the drug was so cheap they could kill them self in a short period or have the goverment given a daily dose so they can camp by the park trees the rest of the day. thiefs are allready bad enough we dont need strung out junkies with them.
