Pubdate: Sun, 11 Nov 2007 Source: Telegram, The (CN NF) Copyright: 2007 The Telegram Contact: http://www.thetelegram.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/303 Author: Peter Jackson, The Telegram OF WAR AND POPPIES In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. - John McCrae, 1915 . . . The association of the poppy to those who had been killed in war has existed since the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, over 110 years before being adopted in Canada. There exists a record from that time of how thickly poppies grew over the graves of soldiers in the area of Flanders, France. This early connection between the poppy and battlefield deaths described how fields that were barren before the battles exploded with the blood-red flowers after the fighting ended. - - The Royal Canadian Legion . . . California's Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve is truly one of the Golden State's most unique state parks. Located in the western Antelope Valley, the poppy reserve is dedicated to preserving the state's famed species of poppy - the California poppy. The state flower of California grows unrestrained in a 1,745-acre state park. The park does not water the poppies or provide any other maintenance to ensure the field is totally natural. Sheep used to graze amidst the poppies, however in the early 1970s the park relocated the flock, since the California poppy prefers to grow in an undisturbed environment. The only proactive means the poppy reserve has taken is performing prescribed burns. This action is performed in hopes to prevent devastating wild fires. - - poppies.ws . . . The opium poppy was first grown in the western Mediterranean, in the region of southern France and Italy. There are archeological finds in that area dating to about 4000 BC. The opium poppy was probably first grown for food. The seed is rich in edible oil - always a precious resource. Poppy cultivation spread to central Europe and to the Aegean by 1000 BC. Opium flourished in the Arab world, as in Islam opiates were not proscribed in the same way as alcohol. In the 7th century, the Islamic cultures of western Asia had discovered that the most powerful narcotic and medicinal effects could be obtained by igniting and smoking the poppy's congealed juices. - - Plantcultures.org . . . The Opium War, also called the Anglo-Chinese War, was the most humiliating defeat China ever suffered. By the 1830s, the English had become the major drug-trafficking criminal organization in the world; very few drug cartels of the 20th century can even touch the England of the early 19th century in sheer size of criminality. Growing opium in India, the East India Company shipped tons of opium into Canton which it traded for Chinese manufactured goods and for tea. War broke out when Chinese junks attempted to turn back English merchant vessels in November of 1839; although this was a low-level conflict, it inspired the English to send warships in June of 1840. The Chinese, with old-style weapons and artillery, were no match for the British gunships, which ranged up and down the coast shooting at forts and fighting on land. Finally, in 1842, the Chinese were forced to agree to an ignominious peace under the Treaty of Nanking. - - Richard Hooker, Washington State University . . . At home, the red European wild poppy is a symbol of Canada's military heritage. But the Canadian soldiers of today are trudging through fields of opium poppies every day in Afghanistan, and for them, the potent tall-stalked plant has become a contemporary symbol of the frustrations of nation-building in a failed state. Illicit poppy production is simultaneously a hard-to-replace source of income for thousands of small Afghan farmers and a valuable source of revenue for the enemies of NATO and the legitimate Afghan government. Over 90 per cent of the world's illegal raw opium is thought to come from Afghanistan. Ultimately, its byproducts go on to wreak havoc in cities around the world. -National Post, June 2007 . . . Opium production soared last year to 6,400 tonnes, and Afghanistan now produces 92 per cent of the world's heroin. The "war on drugs" lobby in the United States insists that something be done about it, so the U.S. and allied armies end up trying to destroy the farmers' crops. The Taliban swallow their anti-drug principles and promise to protect the farmers. Guess who wins the war? Afghan farmers get paid considerably less than $100 a kilo for their raw opium. Multiply 6,400 tonnes by $200 a kilo, to outbid the drug smugglers, and the International Security Assistance Force could have bought up last year's entire Afghan crop for $2.5 billion. What's more, the money would be going straight into the pockets of the people whose "hearts and minds" are at stake: the 13 per cent of Afghans who are involved in the opium trade. - - Gwynne Dyer, May 2007 . . . Afghanistan produced record levels of opium in 2007 for the second straight year, led by a staggering 45 per cent increase in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand Province, according to a new United Nations survey. While the report found that opium production dropped in northern Afghanistan, Western officials familiar with the assessment said, cultivation rose in the south, where Taliban insurgents urge farmers to grow poppies. Although common farmers make comparatively little from the trade, opium is a major source of financing for the Taliban, who gain public support by protecting farmers' fields from eradication, according to American officials. They also receive a cut of the trade from traffickers they protect. - - The New York Times, August 2007 - ------------------------------ Peter Jackson is The Telegram's editorial page editor. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart