Poppies

I posted on Anne Applebaum's great op-ed about Afghanistan at my other blog for a couple of reasons. It fits into the current news cycle and I don't post on the drug war there enough. And it addressed the same argument I've made here many times, although really eloqently although it's really worth the read.

Applebaum brings up a little made point that Turkey was in a similar circumstance a long time back, of becoming a narco state, and they solved it by legalizing poppy production. Which we supported then and continue to support by buying their "raw" product to make legal morphine. The only reason I can see, not to take the same approach in Afghanistan is because easing the worldwide shortage on morphine would drop the price and would not benefit the big pharmas.


Meanwhile, if anyone has a moment, Romunov, a regular commenter, questions my statistics at The Impolitic post. I just don't have the time or the energy this week to dig out the links and make the case, but if you do, I would appreciate you enlightening Rom.