Help, please I need answer from residents of Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan, am trying to understand……?

Question

I was in Amsterdam and felt safer than I did back home in the Philadelphia area. I have seen many slide pictures and videos of your lands where every day it is easier for people to obtain opium (heroine) then it is to obtain clean drinking water. Why don't Americans see a population of heroine addicts and expensive drug addicted babies there when 93% of the world’s heroine comes from Afghanistan? Why are these drug addicted individuals and babies found in EVERY town threw out this United States of America?

Please answer this question; your answer can help the world economy and the very future of affordable healthcare worldwide. Thank you very much.

Ok flux, heroin can only be made from opium, please spent a few more minutes reading this VERY TRUE article than you did answering my question.
Afghanistan has doubled its opium production over the past two years and now accounts for 93 percent of the world's output, according to the annual UNODC survey. The southern province of Helmand alone has become the world's biggest source of illicit drugs. The amount of Afghan land used for opium has surpassed the total used for coca cultivation in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia combined. Afghan poppies, which start as flowers in farmers' fields and often wind up as heroin on U.S. streets, fuel a $3 billion a year industry in Afghanistan. The industry is filling the coffers of the Taliban, the group who gave safe haven to al Qaeda before and after 9/11, and it is destabilizing the Afghan government.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/siu/shows/narco.state/

plezurqui, sorry I simply want to know why where heroin (opium) is being made as the only means to obtain (buy) the basic necessities to stay alive such as clean water and food in the middle east and why isn't this general population in the middle east a bunch of heroine addicts, while in the United States and worldwide crimes are being committed so drug addicts can pay the high price of life on heroine? It would save so much money for taxpayers if heroine could be bought legally in the United States. Only our government, law enforcement and the drug cartels would lose money and power. No God would allow drug addicted premature infants to be born only to live an expensive excruciating painful life. The terrorists consists of much funding from drug cartels and corrupt politicians in the Middle East that are rich only from drug trafficing (not oil)/ Why has this been allowed to exist for centuries?

sfaa, heroine is the worst byproduct derived from opium. Heroine use is the MOST used excuse for crimes committed such as robbery, murder and rape. I just want to know why; where this drug is more easily obtained then clean water, why they don't have the same drug/crimes problem's as the US does where their drug is illegal?

Answer 1

I am not a resident of Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan, but I have spent many years in the Middle East, and here is my perspective:

Narcotics use is counter to Islam, so most of the poppy farmers in that region grow the crop to make a living but have no interest in using it themselves. Some of them even believe that they are doing something immoral by producing a product for drug addicts, however, no other crop that they can grow would pay anywhere near as much.

The sad thing is that the middle men make all the real profits.

Someone needs to form an NGO making poppy products OTHER than opium, cut out the middle man, and market those products internationally.

Suggestions:

- Poppy seeds are edible, and are used, especially in Central Europe but also throughout the rest of the world for the preparation of pastry, nougat; etc.

- The seeds provide a good-quality oil which is used for human consumption, especially in northern Europe.

- In view of its high content of quick-drying substances, the first juice extracted is used to make oil varnishes, soap, greases, perfume, etc.

- The seeds are also used in pharmacy for making emulsions.

- Oil-cake made from poppy-seeds is excellent cattle feed and a first-class fertilizer.

- Lastly; because of the beauty of its flowers, the opium poppy is used throughout the world as an ornamental plant.

Answer 2

Few problems here. A) Heroin is not the only thing made from opium and opium poppies. B) Afghanistan is not the only country that grows opium poppies. C) Heroin is not the sole source of crime.

Answer 3

I've been there - there are certainly issues of drug addiction (which is heavily downplayed) in the countries where the drugs are cultivated and produced. However, for the most part, the drugs are seen as a cash crop worth more on the market than the fleeting benefit of usage, which is generally illegal and religiously contra-indicated.

Note: In many Islamic countries, it clearly states at the border that smuggling narcotics is punishable by the death sentence.

Answer 4

There is a difference between a "War" and a "Strike." Also, direct quote from the article: I don't think you could make a blanket statement about pre-emptive war, because obviously, it depends on the threat that the United States of America faces," McCain told his audience at Bridgewater Associates Inc., a global investment firm. He never said he was going to do it. He just said it was an option IF the USA was under a threat. +++++++++++++++++++++++ Your scenario still does not mean a ground attack or occupation. We could strike them. If they tried to mobilize, we could destroy their conventional forces on the ground and still not have to invade, like we never had to invade Serbia. It would probably mean more insurgency action in Iraq though. Also, we have 2.2 million in the military. We have only about 200,000 deployed. If we wanted to invade, we could. It would require the National Guard though anything beyond that would be trouble... say Korea for example.

Answer 5

I had a lot of trouble understanding your question. I think the answer is that the west (Europe and America) are so rich and so morally corrupt that millions of people have the attitude that if it feels good do it.

Answer 6

Most of that makes no sense. Opium is not heroin.

Answer 7

You may have felt safer, but you were in the highest crime city in Europe. It's all in your head.