The USA and its allies have tried, with limited success, to operate a crop substitution programme. But many of the farmers who have cooperated complain that they are much worse off than before. I imagine that it would cost far less for the USA and its allies to buy up the entire crop than all the money they spend in trying to suppress the opium trade and paying farmers to switch to other crops, even if they were to pay a premium (say, 25%) over the price currently offered by the middlemen. Then, if any is needed for legitimate medical use, it could be processed and bottled, and the rest could be destroyed.
Incidentally, does anyone have figures for the value of the opium trade to the Afghan economy and the current cost of suppressing the trade ?
Allan Deeds.
2006-11-08
00:02:17
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4 answers
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asked by
deedsallan
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