On Mon, 23 Dec 2002, Sandy Harris wrote: > Methinks its more complex than that. I'm surprised to see reports of > opium coming out of > Afghanistan at all.
It's been almost 30 years since you were there, so things have definitly changed! > I was there in 1974, before the 1979 Russian invasion. Hashish was > eveywhere of course -- it is > part of the culture, always has been. We had offers to sell us hash from > all sorts of people. Army > officers at military checkpoints, waiters, respectable > pillar-of-the-community businessmen running > shops, sleazy lads who also wanted to introduce me to some local girls, > customs oficers, ... We > were offerred any amount from a few grams for our pipes up to multiple > kilos built into furniture > for export. I'm jelous! > We were not offerred opium or any of its derivatives. Opium was readily > available in Iran, > then under that Shah, and being smoked by both Iranians and foreigners > at one party we went > to. We saw large fields of opium poppies in Turkey. In Af, we saw no > poppies and no opium. > > So now, when I hear reports of opium in Af, I'm inclined to assume it is > a new phenomenon > created for the Western (mainly American) market in response to various > crackdowns in > Turkey and Iran. I think that's correct. Afghanistan became the number 1 producer about 10 years ago, so from a 30 year vantage point that's "recent". > I wish I had some reason to think America's "war on drugs" apparatus > might behave > sanely in Af, in particular that they wouldn't be stupid enough to > attack marijuana and > hasish cultivation. > > However, my guess is that they will try to ram all of their idiocy down > Afghan throats. > This is likely to mean some dead Americans and perhaps retaliation for > that. It could > be a real mess. Could be??!!?? It is a real mess. And it will get worse. The drugs issue is pretty minor tho. For now, we seem to be letting all the war lords build their cash reserves thru drug cultivation. For the moment we've got the same mental state as the Russians did in the 80's with about the same military effectiveness. Notice the lack of news from that region? The silence is pretty deafening. Patience, persistence, truth, Dr. mike
