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Vienna – U.S. plans to chemically eradicate poppy crops in Afghanistan would create such major economic and social disruption to the country that a resurgence of widespread insecurity in the Central Asian region would surely follow, ICOS, an international drug policy think tank, said today. The group said that the implementation of effective, sustainable drug policy solutions is the only way to maintain the fragile democracy and economic stability that is being tentatively restored to the country after 25 years of war.

“The large scale poppy crop eradication plan that is currently being proposed by the U.S. administration will most certainly lead the Afghan people to become disillusioned with the country’s newly-formed democracy, as opium poppy production is the main source of income for Afghan farmers,” said Mr Reinert. “The elimination of their livelihood and the extreme poverty that would ensue would force farmers back into the arms of warlords.”

The Failure of Plan Colombia: The Council said that the 2.3 billion dollar US-backed ‘Plan Colombia,’ which relies on eradicating coca crops by aerial spraying would be disastrous if repeated in Afghanistan.

“Plan Colombia has been a massive failure, causing economic disaster for Colombian farmers and failing to curtail rates of availability and consumption of cocaine in consumer countries,” said Mr Reinert. “In fact, worldwide cocaine production has continued to increase due to displacement of cocoa production. Aerial spraying has also had a major effect on environmental degradations and has been the source of health epidemics and social problems.”

Europe Must Support Alternatives to Crop Eradication: According to ICOS, the European Union and European countries, which generally have a more realistic approach to the drug issue, must use their combined political weight to counteract US pressure for ‘quick-fix’ eradication solutions to illegal poppy farming in Afghanistan.

Feasibility Study for A Sustainable Solution: ICOS announced that it will undertake a comprehensive feasibility study for the proper consideration of licensing Afghanistan for the legal production of opium for morphine. It will consult with authorities, international organizations, academics and experts relevant to the implementation of the study at the national and international level. The findings of this study will be announced at an international drug policy symposium in Kabul in September 2005, organised by ICOS in cooperation with the University of Kabul.

“We are launching a feasibility study for the licensing of opium production in Afghanistan for medical purposes. This way, the world’s largest supply of opium could be turned into essential medicine such as morphine and codeine rather than heroin. It would also provide Afghanistan with a legal outlet for its high levels of opium farming, reducing the power of the criminal drug trafficking network that stretches from Afghanistan across Central Asia and Europe,” Mr Reinert said.

Reinert explained that under current UN legislation, any country can apply to the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board for a license to legally produce and sell opium for morphine. Many countries, including Australia, France, Turkey and India, already produce opium legally under such licences. Reducing the amount of Afghan opium turned into heroin for the illegal market would shift the drug trade and its profits from the drug lords to the state, he said.

“Under such a license, opium produced in Afghanistan would be directed to the legal pharmaceutical market instead of the illicit heroin trade,” said Mr Reinert. “This would also help solve the world-wide shortage of morphine for pain relief, which exists particularly in developing countries.”

Secret Spraying in the Night: “Recent reports of secret nighttime aerial chemical spraying of poppy fields in the Nangahar and Helmand Provinces are, even on this small scale, causing dissent amongst the affected farming population,” said Mr Reinert. “Spraying kills all other crops, causes illness and takes away the livelihoods of rural communities.”

The Council said that if these crop-spraying rumors become reality on a large scale, the resulting widespread discontentment and distress would be calamitous for the future stability of Afghanistan. “A disgruntled population would become a breeding ground for more anti-western sentiment,” said Mr Reinert. It just isn’t possible to apply short-term ideological tactics to this massive, deeply rooted issue.”