Carnivorousness

If you come in my cage I'll eat you too!

Monday, October 16, 2006

We should pay the Afghans to grow opium.

In Prospect magazine, Johann Hari reflects on the opiate war in Afghanistan:
IN Kabul hospital, half the patients who need opiate-based painkillers are writhing in agony because they have none, while in the fields outside and across Afghanistan farmers trying to grow opiates are having their fields trashed and livelihoods destroyed by Western troops. This is just the most ironic intersection between the West's war on drugs and what the World Health Organisation calls an unprecedented global pain crisis.
The world is suffering from an opium drought. The International Narcotics Control Board calculates that the US, Britain, France, Canada, Spain, Australia and Japan consume 80 per cent of the world's medical opiates, leaving the remaining 80 per cent of humanity with the dregs.
Even in developed countries, in cancer care alone there is a need for 550 tonnes more opium every year, and overall, according to a University of Toronto study, only about 24 per cent of the demand for medical opiates is being met.
At the same time, a violent and utopian attempt to physically stop Afghans from growing the opiates we need is causing us to lose a battle there that Tony Blair has called "essential for the safety of civilisation

8 Comments:

At 9:13 PM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

they can export painkillers and lemon poppyseed muffins. And everybody wins.

 
At 9:10 AM , Blogger Miss Carnivorous said...

I love lemon poppyseed muffins and Vicodin! It makes you feel like you just don't care!

 
At 10:11 AM , Blogger gary said...

What makes you think we are not paying the Afghans to grow opium? I suggest you read "The Politics of Heroin."

 
At 11:04 AM , Blogger Miss Carnivorous said...

You are right Gary. In a way we do pay for the herion. Of course heroin would not be as dangerous if it wasn't cut with the crap they cut it with. All those toxins!

 
At 4:39 PM , Blogger John Doe said...

Please, compare:

The International Narcotics Control Board calculates that the US, Britain, France, Canada, Spain, Australia and Japan consume 80 per cent of the world's medical opiates

The International Narcotics Control Board calculates that Spain consumes 80 per cent of the world's non-medical opiates. That's the Spanish Dream!!! (Sorry, I'm going to sleep.)

 
At 10:30 AM , Blogger Miss Carnivorous said...

Panic in Needle Park! J.Doe, I always used to think the Sapnish were very conservative.

 
At 5:21 PM , Blogger John Doe said...

We have a strong conservative side, but anyway you should change your opinion. BTW, the young Spaniards are the main European consumer of cocaine.

 
At 10:47 AM , Blogger Miss Carnivorous said...

J.Doe you are killing all my illusions!

 

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