Pubdate: Thu, 16 Mar 2006
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Peter Gorrie, Feature Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

POPPY CROP COULD HAVE POSITIVE USE

Think-Tank Opposes Eradication Policy -- Plants Can Be Used For Other 
Painkillers -- Bid To Kill Opium Trade Is Futile, Think-Tank Argues

Let Afghans Help Ease Shortage Of Painkilling Drugs

The attempt to eradicate Afghanistan's opium poppy crop  is 
ineffective and destructive, and should be  abandoned, says an 
international security and  development policy think-tank.

Afghan farmers should be encouraged to grow the plants  for 
production of morphine, codeine and other  opium-derived painkillers 
in critically short supply  around the world, the Paris-based Senlis 
Council says.

While Afghan police, guarded by coalition troops, plow  illicit 
poppies into the ground, millions of people  with cancer, HIV/AIDS 
and surgical or accident wounds  endure excruciating pain with no 
access to drugs that  offer relief, the council says.

Meanwhile, powerful drug lords -- who convert the crop  into the 
world's main source of heroin -- are squeezing  impoverished Afghan 
farmers and undermining the  country's fragile economy and political 
system, says  the council's director general, Emmanuel Reinert.

"Instead of believing in the crazy idea of us being  able to 
eradicate it, why not use the resource for  legitimate and worthwhile 
purposes," says University of  Toronto's Benedikt Fischer, who did 
research for Senlis.

The eradication policy assumes farmers will switch to  other crops. 
But no alternatives pay enough, so it  turns them against the 
struggling government of Afghan  President Hamid Karzai and Canadian 
and other foreign  troops trying to eliminate Taliban insurgents.

Farmers get $100 to $150 (U.S.) per kilogram for opium.  After paying 
bribes, and payments for security and  supplies to drug lords, 
they're left with little.

They'd be better off in the legal trade, Reinert says.  And the 
government would win support if it protected  their crops.

Poppies are grown under stringent regulations in  Australia, India, 
Turkey and France for production of  painkillers. Supply is 
controlled almost like a cartel,  Fischer says.

Multinational giants in Britain, France, United States,  Japan and 
Australia do most of the processing. These  countries, along with 
Italy and Spain, account for  nearly 80 per cent of global consumption.

The mark-up between farm and hospital shelf is about  5,000 per cent.

Unmet demand in the seven main consuming countries is  equal to 550 
tonnes of opium a year, and, because  doctors are using the 
painkillers more aggressively,  the shortfall will soar, Fischer says.
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