Afghanistan

Afghan women and children use palliative opium

Women and children in rural areas of Afghanistan consume opium on a regular basis to cure their illnesses. The women say they believe opium has curative powers. The journalist however contests that they are oblivious of the real dangers connected to smoking opium.

Afghanis: beholden to the markets

The UNODC recently released its annual report concerning opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Unsurprisingly, levels of opium production have continued to rise despite more efforts made at eradication. In fact, the amount of area under opium poppy cultivation has risen to some of the highest levels ever seen. So what exactly is driving this rise in production levels? The simple answer is the opium market, which like every other market is driven by supply and demand.

NATO: huge morphine seizures

On Monday 2nd January NATO forces in Afghanistan announced that they had made record seizures of illegal narcotics in 2011 and claimed that this had dealt a significant blow to the Taliban-led insurgency. Brigadier General Carsten Jacobsen claimed that “counter-narcotic operations are successfully disrupting the insurgent’s ability to process opium into heroin. We will continue to choke off revenue generated by the sale of illicit drugs in 2012.”

Playing F.A.S.T and loose in the drugs war

The global War on Drugs - like so many other government initiatives that begin with a noble, limited and understandable purpose - has swelled in time to become a costly, vague and chaotic operation of monstrous and bloody proportions.

Tobias Ellwood on Poppy Relief

Due to Mr Ellwood’s apparent links to Poppy Relief I decided that it may be a good idea to visit him to gain a further insight into his view in using the Afghan opium for licit uses. Tobias Ellwood is a Conservative MP was first elected to parliament in 2005 for Bournemouth East. He has since 2006 publically campaigned about opium in Afghanistan though there does seem to be some changes in his opinion the use of Afghan opium.

The Indian heroin mystery

India has seen in the last ten years a vast upsurge in the illicit cultivation of opium poppies. Despite only accounting for a small proportion of the global crop, the increase has been startling and rapid. The change has been so rapid that India wasn't been included as a major producer in the UNODC's 2010 World Drug Report despite the current figures showing India to now be on par with Pakistan in terms of opium production. Indian figures claim the last three years the known area of illicit poppy cultivation has increased from 737 hectares to 3084 hectares.

UN Fail to Reduce Opium Cultivation in Afghanistan

A recently published report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which focuses on Afghan opium farming, presents little progress throughout 2010, despite continuing efforts to minimize farming of the crop throughout the country.

Musharraf voices concerns that Afghanistan could become a narco-state.

As revealed by a recent Cablegate Wikileak, former President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, has voiced concerns that Afghanistan could become a narco-state. In a meeting with Senator John McCain in April this year, Musharaff argued that Afghanistan should follow India’s example in handling the narcotics trade. The relevant paragraph in the Wikileak reads, in full, as follows:

Opium more profitable than bread for Afghan farmers.

According to the 2010 Afghan Opium Survey released by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in September the sharp rise in the price of opium, combined with a drop in the price of wheat, suggests that many farmers will switch back to cultivating the illicit crop.

'None of Afghanistan's licit agricultural products can currently match the gross income per hectare from opium.' said the survey.

Afghanistan's forgotten women

Recent reports from a UNODC study have shown that drug addiction among women throughout Afghanistan is rising rapidly. The country’s deputy counter-narcotics minister, Ibrahim Azhar now estimates that there are now over a 1 million people now addicted to heroin, a substantial proportion of the country’s 30 million population. However, it is the rise in addiction rates among women and children that is most shocking, estimated to be at least 130,000 people.

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