$7 Billion U.S. Eradication Effort Delivers Record High Poppy Crop in Afghanistan
November 5th, 2014Via: Common Dreams:
Opium poppy cultivation levels in Afghanistan are at a record high, though the U.S. government has spent over $7 billion to stop it, a federal watchdog states in a new report.
In a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Attorney General Eric Holder and US AID head Rajiv Shah, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John F. Sopko writes: “Despite spending over $7 billion to combat opium poppy cultivation and to develop the Afghan government’s counternarcotics capacity, opium poppy cultivation levels in Afghanistan hit an all-time high in 2013.”
“As of June 30, 2014, the United States has spent approximately $7.6 billion on counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan,” the letter states.
“Despite the significant financial expenditure, opium poppy cultivation has far exceeded previous records,” he writes, adding that this “calls into question the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of those prior efforts.”
The value of opium and opium-made products in Afghanistan—the world’s largest producer of opium—rose 50 percent from 2012 to 2013, the report states, citing United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) figures.
Research Credit: JB
There is a band called the “war on drugs” and it would be better for all humans to listen to their music than it would be to spend a second of your mind on the news that the money spent by the US was a big waste. The US “war on drugs” has been going on since the 1960’s. I think it just code for “look how much money we are making off of drugs.” Sweet for the money makers.
I think it is beyond our human power to stop this “war on drugs.”
So might as well as enjoy your life and listen to some awesome music from the band War on Drugs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wa0q8KX7t44
Review I like:
http://www.stereogum.com/1669001/premature-evaluation-the-war-on-drugs-lost-in-the-dream-2/franchises/premature-evaluation/
I blast this music throughout my house as loud as I can.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
That other war on drugs is a joke.
I think my favorite is track 8 – Burning, but this song is just a culmination of all that came before it.
Will you release from your heart again. This music moves me from where I was into something better.
Enjoy