Should we buy up the opium poppies?

We have a load of Afghan opium which funds Al Qaida. Should we buy them instead and fund the Allies? This debate is not intended to be a debate on usage, rather control.

EDIT: Tribes that supply to us will be loyal to us.

[edit on 10-9-2008 by redled]

I've wondered this myself.

What if the US sets up shop in the major opium producing regions of the world and just buys the entire crop.

Of course they could burn it or whatever.

But the source of the drug flow would dry up overnight.

How much crime wouldn't happen if there was no more supply at any price?

Interesting to think about .

What and take away one of our excuses for occupation? Get out of here terrorist!

Buy them up? Only if we redistribute the opium, free of charge, to older stay-at-home moms who have numerous health issues and who could use a 'break' from the pain and the daily labor.

Seriously though - no, I don't think it would be a good idea to buy it up.

Why? - I'm not sure. But I just have a negative gut reaction to the idea.

Perhaps decades of anti-drug mental conditioning by society.

I think it's a good idea depending on the cost. Maybe there is another crop they could grow that we or someone else could buy as well. I imagine the prices right at the source are going to be much lower than street value. The opium poppy is a very pretty plant and it's interesting to look at. You can sprinkle the seeds on muffins and bread before you cook them and they do add to the flavor. I had one pop up as a weed a decade ago on the west coast but haven't had the fortune since then.

reply to post by Wildbob77


How much crime, well you obviously don't read much on this website. The opium fields were at all time lows prior to us showing up. After we show up they are at all time production. Man that sure is strange, Taliban eradicate opium and we wipe out Taliban now opium is all time high with the mighty USA watching over. I think the real problem would be the loss of revenue to the CIA, DEA, blah, blah, blah. The war on drugs is a complete failure and we just keep blathering on about it. When was the last time you or anyone you know got high on opium? My guess is never or maybe you knew someone that did it when you were late teens or early 20's. How many Alcoholics do you know? I'd bet 100's, but hey we love Budweiser we even invest in them and are happy when the stock goes up. Yeah the stock goes up because people are poisoning themselves with alcohol, but my stock is up so really what do I care.

reply to post by stikkinikki


In that case, we've got a use for seeds. Got to be undebateable that we torch the rest? Outside flower arrangements of course.

Originally posted by redled
reply to post by stikkinikki

 

In that case, we've got a use for seeds. Got to be undebateable that we torch the rest? Outside flower arrangements of course.

Compost the rest and build up the Afgani soil so they can grow better grains and vegetables. The opium might be of medicinal use for killing pain. I don't know how dangerous it is compared to other pain killing drugs. First thing would be to buy it all. Heck you could probably till it right into the soil.

[edit on 9/10/08 by stikkinikki]

People, we already do. It's not the flag waving, patriotic crowd, it's the CIA. Has anyone heard of Mena AR? Here's a link Mena AR. Have we all forgotten the operations of the CIA in south Asia? Here's the link CIA Heroin. If you require more reading material, please just Google 'CIA,Heroin'. Or, CIA, Opium. I recently read a quote, online, (don't remember where) that the 'war, oil, drug' industry is insepperably tied to the traffic of illicit drugs. This is nothing new, just think back a hundred years (or so) to the British/Chinese opium wars. I would also suggest a reading of the non-fiction book"Opium" by Martin Booth "Opium, a history". Sorry to the mods if a direct Amazon link is Verbotten, but the work is still copywritten, and Amazon is the first of a few links that display the info.

Best, Gram.

I don't know. I have always found the resurgence of Opium poppies after the fall of the Taliban to be weird anyway. Before America went in, the Opium trade had been outlawed. In the year after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan had the largest bumper crop of Opium poppies in history.

One could be so bold as to say that America is to blame for the current Opium problem, a supporter even.

DocMoreau

Your idea isn't really that unreasonable. We have been paying subsidies to our own farmers for years. The suggestion that we help Afghani's come up with an alternative to poppy farms would be great but the profit margin for poppies is huge and the only thing keeping a lot of these people from abject poverty. In an ideal world, the opium could be put to beneficial uses. Through the wonders of chemistry it would seem that our pharmaceutical industry could come up with non-addictive and low cost pain medications. They could even be able to profit from their discoveries. (I mean, if we can decaffeinate coffee...). Everybody wins. Not likely but nice idea.
I also became somewhat nostalgic about a previous product common to the country back in my zippy hippy days ; black Afghani hash. I wouldn't mind seeing that back.