Pubdate: Tue, 27 Sep 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

Afghanistan

Opium-Farm Licensing Under Consideration

The world's biggest producer of opium and its derivative, heroin, 
acknowledged Monday that it has considered licensing its vast illicit 
crop and using it to produce opium-based medicines, though it ruled 
out such a move in the immediate future.

The Afghan government said it welcomed the release Monday of a 
feasibility study about the subject by a European-based drug policy 
research organization, the Senlis Council. But Afghanistan's 
counternarcotics minister, Habibullah Qaderi, ruled out adopting such 
a program until security conditions in the country improve.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman