DrugSense FOCUS Alert #236 Feb 25, 2002 CLUELESS IN AFGHANISTAN PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #236 Feb 25, 2002 Much has been made of the link between terror and drugs by both drug warriors and drug policy reform advocates. There is a crucial difference between the interpretations: Drug warriors ignore prohibition's role in the link, while reformers understand prohibition offers the central relationship between drugs and terror. The drug warriors have spread their perspective with the assistance of the mainstream press. A good example is this month's Vanity Fair, which contains an article by Maureen Orth about drug corruption in Afghanistan. The word prohibition isn't raised once in the article. Instead, Orth follows the party line that the drug war should be fought with even more resources. Please write a letter Vanity Fair to remind Orth and editors that this simply isn't logical. When the drug war is causing corruption, an enhanced drug war can only lead to more corruption. Thanks for your effort and support. WRITE A LETTER TODAY It's not what others do it's what YOU do PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to if you are not subscribed. Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to follow suit. Subscribing to the Sent LTE list () will help you to review other sent LTEs and perhaps come up with new ideas or approaches as well as keeping others aware of your important writing efforts. To subscribe to the Sent LTE mailing list see http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm and/or http://www.mapinc.org/lists/index.htm#form This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one very effective way of gauging our impact and effectiveness. CONTACT INFO You can contact Vanity Fair at ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ORIGINAL ARTICLE Afghanistan's Deadly Habit URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n259/a04.html AFGHANISTAN'S DEADLY HABIT No Matter Who Controls Afghanistan, Its Opium Crop-More Than 70% Of The World's Supply-Is Creating Narco-Societies Throughout Central Asia, From Russia To Pakistan. In Tajikistan, The Author Discovers The Extent Of The Region's Drug Corruption, Which May Prove More Destructive Than Any Terrorist Threat. The ex-K.G.B. colonel and I are bumping along on the ancient Silk Road in Tajikistan, heading southeast from the capital city of Dushanbe toward the Panj River, which separates Tajikistan from Afghanistan. Arid mountains loom on either side, and random boulders are spewed on the poorly paved road, which we share with a few peasant boys and donkeys bearing bundles of kindling wood. Like most Americans, I had barely heard of this country before September 11, but soon I began to realize its crucial importance to a dangerous war that is sure to last much longer than the one going on in Afghanistan. The enemy is heroin, the most valuable export of Central Asia, and I have come 7,000 miles to understand the symbiotic connection between drugs and terrorism. Now I am about to visit the nexus of the world's largest heroin supply and the beginning of its extravagantly profitable transit between the porous border between these two impoverished countries. In the villages on both sides of the river, virtually the entire population is engaged in smuggling the only cash crop that Afghanistan grows, the opium poppy. You have to smuggle or you die of starvation-it is the only means to live, a Tajik Drug Control Agency commander told me. My guide, Colonel Salomatsho Kbushvakhtov, once the K.G.B. agent in charge of the border for the Soviets and now an officer of the elite new Tajik drug agency, concurs, explaining that the war against the Taliban and al-Qaeda will not stop heroin from flowing across the border. In July 2000 the Taliban, to gain international recognition and deplete their stockpiles, imposed a strict ban on poppy growing, which was 91 percent effective by 2001. Nevertheless, Khushvakhtov assures me, the warlords who still roam Central Asia need the money heroin brings. It is their main source of income, and they have to feed and pay soldiers. (SNIP) TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE, CLICK THE URL ABOVE ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm To the Editor: One has to question Maureen Orth's capacity for rational thought. A former Peace Corps volunteer who witnessed, first hand, the destruction of the Colombian economy by a burgeoning criminal market for cocaine a decade or so ago, Orth, as journalist, reported very competently on the injury done by the criminal market for heroin, not only to Afghanistan, but to all of Central Asia. She then ended with one of the most puzzling conclusions in the annals of modern journalism: "Rarely has there been a more auspicious moment to help eliminate a worldwide scourge and bring corrupt officials to heel." Come again? The current "victor" in Afghanistan, the United States, remains firmly committed to drug prohibition. As Orth stated in her opening line, it doesn't matter who controls Afghanistan; opium will dominate its economy. It is impossible to see how removal of the Taliban will change that fact, especially since the only rule now possible is at the hands of the same opium growing warlords we once recruited to eject the Russians. One point Orth does make clearly: when a criminal enterprise becomes the economic life-blood of an entire region, bad things happen. That was the exact situation in Central Asia when we lost interest in it in 1992. The result was September 11th. How Orth-- or the US State Department and CIA-- could possibly think our recent bombing of Afghanistan has changed things for the better is a critical question. It's now clear they simply have no rational answer because the US under Bush remains as deeply committed to drug prohibition as ever. So long as heroin remains illegal, the conditions Orth described in Central Asia will remain beyond any government's capacity to change. Tom O'Connell, MD NOTE: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. 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Make checks payable to MAP Inc. send your contribution to: The Media Awareness Project (MAP) Inc. d/b/a DrugSense PO Box 651 Porterville, CA 93258 (800) 266 5759 http://www.mapinc.org/ http://www.drugsense.org/ Just DO It!! Prepared by Stephen Young () and Stephen Heath ( ) DrugSense FOCUS Alert Specialists

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