Opium production surging in Afghanistan

[D_Raay]

http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2004/11/18/opium041118.html

KABUL - Afghanistan's opium production is approaching record levels. A new United Nations report says drug production has shot up more than 60 per cent in the past year.
The hardline Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan until 2001, greatly reduced opium poppy cultivation. However, under the rule of the new democratically elected president, Hamid Karzai, opium production is approaching record highs, with poppies now being grown in all of Afghanistan's 32 provinces.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that opium cultivation has increased by 64 per cent in the last year alone.

The current crop is valued at $2.8 billion US, an amount equal to more than 60 per cent of Afghanistan's gross domestic product.

Afghanistan is now the leading producer of opium in the world, providing three quarters of all global supplies.

UN officials say fears are high that the country will degenerate into a "narco-state" and have voiced concerns of the strong links between drugs and terrorism.

President Karzai has said fighting drugs is his top priority for the next five years.
The Taliban had pretty much halted opium production by killing druggies (and politicians who took drug money). Under Hamid Karzai, former UNOCAL thug and current US puppet (and if you think he won his election honestly I have a Diebold machine to sell you) , opium production has reached record highs. One finds it difficult to imagine that this was not the intended outcome of the invasion.

[dublirie04]

free up the opium!!!!! :p

[Whois]

"The spice must flow"

[ASsman]

Second time this happens, right?

[American]

And how many opium based drugs are there in our pharmacies? Hmmmmm, how much money does the drug industry bring in? Maybe this war on terror is not a war for oil after all,,,,,, hmmmmm, war for opium. Sarcasm of course. But you get my point. There will always be a need for opium. Good for them if they grow it!

[D_Raay]

And how many opium based drugs are there in our pharmacies? Hmmmmm, how much money does the drug industry bring in? Maybe this war on terror is not a war for oil after all,,,,,, hmmmmm, war for opium. Sarcasm of course. But you get my point. There will always be a need for opium. Good for them if they grow it!
You've got to be kidding me... As if they are making it for pharmacies... A nd if so why not legalize marijuana? or Opium for that matter?

[American]

You've got to be kidding me... As if they are making it for pharmacies... A nd if so why not legalize marijuana? or Opium for that matter?
Maybe they should grow it for pharmacies!
You don't have to argue that point with me. I'm a responsible adult. Responsible for MYSELF and no one else and am willing to pay the price for mistakes I may make. If I can responsibly use marijuana or opium, why should I not be allowed to just because someone else can't? I wish all of the anti-war people would get involved in the war on drugs. How long have drugs been illegal? How long have people been using them? They haven't slowed down yet. Make the drugs legal, make the people accountable.

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm

[D_Raay]

Maybe they should grow it for pharmacies!
You don't have to argue that point with me. I'm a responsible adult. Responsible for MYSELF and no one else and am willing to pay the price for mistakes I may make. If I can responsibly use marijuana or opium, why should I not be allowed to just because someone else can't? I wish all of the anti-war people would get involved in the war on drugs. How long have drugs been illegal? How long have people been using them? They haven't slowed down yet. Make the drugs legal, make the people accountable.

http://www.drugsense.org/wodclock.htm
You don't make sense man... You just argue for the sake of arguing.

[American]

You don't make sense man... You just argue for the sake of arguing.
What doesn't make sense about that? And I admit that I like to argue a little. But what doesn't make sense about the drugs? It's like saying that because some people can't handle being a parent because they neglect their children or beat them or what ever, no one can be a parent anymore.

[D_Raay]

The man WE put in charge over there has a veritable opium overflow market...
What is it you don't see wrong about this? Are you a coke head? Do you think a nation left to base 60% of it's economy on an illegal substance is a viable and necessary entity in the middle east?

[American]

The man WE put in charge over there has a veritable opium overflow market...
What is it you don't see wrong about this? Are you a coke head? Do you think a nation left to base 60% of it's economy on an illegal substance is a viable and necessary entity in the middle east?
Nope, not a coke head. Never even tried it. A better question would have been, are you an opiumhead. Not one of those either. And other than opium what alternative does Afghanastan have? I guess they could export dirt. And why is opium illegal? Honestly I don't know. I know why marijuana was made illegal. But I do not know about opium. If you know please share. This information might help me to better form an opinion. I have to have at least one sarcastic remark. America has set the standard for eliminating drugs by making them illegal! You should get the point.

[Funkaloyd]

I'm a responsible adult. Responsible for MYSELF and no one else and am willing to pay the price for mistakes I may make.

Ah, but should the government stand by and let "responsible" adults commit suicide?

[Rosie Cotton]

You've got to be kidding me... As if they are making it for pharmacies... A nd if so why not legalize marijuana? or Opium for that matter?

Opium was used to treat dysentary. It was also used with morphine as a muscle relaxant.

Laudaum was made with opium and saffron



http://www.unodc.org/unodc/es/legal_library/cn/legal_library_1964-09-28_1964-48.html

Article 5.
The term "opium" as used in the Regulations means opium and opium alkaloids and their derivatives, al well as their salts, such as the various drugs listed in Table I(A) attached herewith.

Narcotic drugs derived from opium but not addiction producing, such as those listed in Table I(B), attached herewith, shall be subject to control in accordance with the Regulations. However, no limit shall be set on the quantity of such drugs to be purchased on each occasion and no narcotic use register shall be required. Article 9 of the present Rules shall not apply to manufacturing pharmaceutical firms in compounding such preparations and proprietary medicines. The manufacturing pharmaceutical firms may submit photostat copies of their licences for the manufacture of compound medicaments, issued by competent local authorities, in lieu of permits for the manufacture of proprietary medicines specified under article 22 of the present Rules.

There's a brief history on the medicinal properties of opium.

[Rosie Cotton]

Also, morphine and codeine are both derived from opium. So yeah, opium does have medicinal qualities.

[ASsman]

Please D_Raay, no quotty the trolly. As for the Opium, hell isn't that part of freedom? Having a thriving heroin market. Or is that just South America?

[D_Raay]

Sorry, he really pissed me off...

[Ace42]

Join the club. Put him on ignore, and make a post on the "don't quote the troll" list. The guy's not worht giving the time of day.