Use the poppies to produce morphine


Sir, Your editorial “Afghan drug crisis” (July 30) correctly identifies current counter-narcotic strategies in Afghanistan as ineffective and hindering Nato-International Security Assistance Force counter-terrorism operations. The worst among many failing drug policies is forced poppy crop eradication. By robbing the farmers of a crop that serves as their sole source of income, the international community has played directly into the hands of the Taliban.

Moreover, the US and its partners have embraced eradication despite its dismal record, and have not seriously examined other options.

For more than two years, ICOS has proposed running "Poppy for Medicine" pilot projects in the south of Afghanistan. Opium is the raw material for morphine, and by allowing farming communities to produce this essential pain-relieving medicine locally under licence, it would help Afghanistan to diversify its economy while benefiting the 80 per cent of the world's population that lacks access to morphine.

Similar programmes were implemented in Turkey and India in the 1970s, and are still in existence. In Afghanistan, the project would provide an immediate source of legal income while farmers undergo a transition to alternative crops.

Such an initiative would go a long way to winning back the hearts and minds of the Afghan people, which is the only way to maintain security in Afghanistan and to defeat the Taliban.



Paul Burton, Director of Policy Analysis, ICOS


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