opium

Wang never imagined he would break the law when all he had in mind was the prosperity of his small village. Wang, the head of the village, tired of the affliction of eternal poverty, started to think poppy cultivation was the solution. As the village head, he showed his confidence in his own initiative by planting over 10,000 poppies on his own farmland. However, to his surprise, less than seven months later, he was arrested and prosecuted for illegal poppy cultivation, and sentenced to seven years in jail and fined five thousand Yuan.

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.

A television commercial for Yves Saint Laurent’s (YSL) new perfume, which contains blatant drug referencing, has been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).

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.