SEEING RED OVER DION'S POPPY IDEA

Re: Dion sees hope in Afghan poppy crop Feb. 23

I was attached to the United Nations Drug Control Program for
Afghanistan from 1993 to 1997, and can say with some certainty that I
know the country well and the opium poppy production, the largest in
the world. I was there before and after the Taliban, attempting to
reduce production and offer alternatives to farmers.

This notion being advanced by Liberal Leader Stephane Dion that
Canada should consider purchasing legal opium from Afghanistan is,
quite frankly, ludicrous and unbelievable. In order to harvest
legitimate opium, you need a secure and controlled environment
available only in an advanced and structured country. In the case of
Afghanistan, we cannot control a single hectare other than by
military might. Perhaps Dion intends to increase our troops a
hundredfold and keep them there forever?

What he is advocating would accelerate the world's largest opium and
heroin production to new heights. The traffickers and persons who
control the trade - not the farmers or Afghans in most instances -
would certainly vote for Dion.

And there is some hypocrisy here as well. It was Paul Martin, as
finance minister, who terminated our funding to the UN's program
during the period that it was developing alternative crops for opium farmers.

Ken Kelly

Alma, N.B.