POPPIES AREN'T PROBLEM, POLICY IS

Re "Why's opium rife in Afghanistan?" letter, May 5: What the author
does not understand is that the poppies in Afghanistan are grown by
poor farmers and not by drug lords. These farmers are mostly simple
people who are just trying to make enough money to feed their families.

Yes, they do sell their poppies to drug lords and I agree this is big
problem. But the long-term solution is not to go in and simply
destroy their crops. Imagine how you would feel if a foreign power
destroyed your livelihood and left your family destitute.

Destroying their crops will either convert them to terrorism or make
them allies of the terrorist. We want to make them our allies. We
need to explain that using poppies is very bad in our culture, like
using alcohol is in their culture. We need to work with them to
change their poppy-based economy into some other profitable crop
system where poppies are outlawed, even if we have to provide price supports.

Developing mutual respect will help us win the war on terror. Making
new enemies to get rid of existing enemies will not make us safer,
and it won't be cheaper.

- - Ron Dale, Folsom