Surge: Afghanistan Now Responsible for 95% of Global Opium Production
August 5th, 2007The people behind this represent the real Plunge Protection Team.
Via: Yahoo / AP:
Afghanistan will produce another record poppy harvest this year that cements its status as the world’s near-sole supplier of the heroin source, yet a furious debate over how to reverse the trend is stalling proposals to cut the crop, U.S. officials say.
…
U.N. figures to be released in September are expected to show that Afghanistan’s poppy production has risen up to 15 percent since 2006 and that the country now accounts for 95 percent of the world’s crop, 3 percentage points more than last year, officials familiar with preliminary statistics told The Associated Press.
For once maybe money is the answer to all our problems?
from the UN report
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf
Net opium poppy cultivation 165,000 ha
Weighted average opium yield 37.0 kg/ha
Potential production of opium 6,100 mt
Total farm-gate value of opium production US$ 0.56 billion
Gross trafficking profits to Afghan traffickers US$ 2.14 billion
So, ecxuse my naivety, but does that mean for just over half a billion they could buy all of the opium direct from the farmers and burn it?
Perhaps they could afford to round it up to a billion and give the farmers double what they normally get for a year’s stock.
I guess that there might be some arguments from the traffickers though. So for 5 billion dollars (a quarter of the us ‘war on drugs’ budget) they could remove 95% of the world’s heroin production from the market for an entire year.
Surely that would be a good thing?
Half a billion dollars in farm-gate value… And what would the retail value of this be? HAHA Oh man.
You really have to wonder how close to the retail level They profit off of this.
Seeing as how the Bush Cartel has been so close to drugs it makes you wonder. Daddy was in the Golden Triangle, two sons in Florida and Texas (now overseeing his puppets back in Afghanistan) keeping and eye on the cross-border shipments, and grand dad was up to his eye balls in other shenanigans. Thats one bent bunch if there ever was one!
So USA invades A-Stan, and in a few short years it becomes the worlds leading producer, historically harvesting the largest crop of opium ever. So could it all be coincidence, or think there might be some “OFFICIAL” blessing regarding this product, and maybe some Western types or organizations making a freakin bazillion dollars along the way?
I can remember during the Russian Afganistan conflict back in the 80s, bars of Afgani Black Hashish that had “F_CK Russia” stamped upon them, with a star and crescent logo.
Unfortunately California’s 38 million a year Cannabis crop (which is based on Franchise Tax Board extimates, not law enforcement guesses) has made such imports unprofitable for whoever does such things. The growers are largely from Mexico, but camp in the wilds to produce the crop.
Wouldn’t it be better if we just had the Afganis growing Cannabis? We could allow them to export a subsistance quantity and people could buy it as a charitable donation. It is after all legal for medicinal use in California and several other states.
I recommend watching the documentary “Plan Columbia” which may demonstrate a similar pattern with cocaine.
The essence of pattern I think I see is: (1) monopolize the source of the drug (drive out competition using the tactics of war) and (2) vertically integrate on top of the source monopoly (i.e. integrate growing, processing and distribution).
It must be profitable to control the supply of chemicals which (due to many generations of co-evolution) have very powerful effects (both good and bad) on people.
I don’t think the U.S. ever invaded Afghanistan to fight the Taliban (at least in my mind). Rather it was the precipitous drop in opium production under the Taliban. Oh, but the newspeak told us that the boogeyman “Osama Bin Laden,” supposedly the master mind behind 9/11 LIVED in Afghanistan. So let’s go there and use American/British soldiers to protect the poppy crop. Anyone have any idea of the addiction rate of troops (whether British or U.S. or NATO) serving in Afghanistan? Like in Vietnam, a soldier who has an addiction is more content to do whatever, than the one without the HIGH – such as those serving in street fighting, as in Iraq.