OUR HUNGER FOR HEROIN FUELS AFGHANISTAN WAR

It is one of the ironies of the war in Afghanistan that the West's
hunger for heroin provides the cash that fuels the Taliban insurgency.

A United Nations report this week confirmed Afghanistan's status as
the world's leading source of heroin. In fact, all but a tiny
percentage of the global supply of opium is produced under the noses
of the NATO troops there trying to rebuild the country.

Efforts to eradicate the poppy fields are obviously having no
practical effect. And as the illegal profits roll in, so are the
murderous Taliban enriched.

Of all the various schemes proposed to stem this deadly trade, the
obvious one -- to dramatically cut illegal demand for the drug -- is
rarely mentioned.

But, how sad it is to reflect that the heroin junkie shooting up in
the Downtown Eastside is, in a real sense, paying for the bombs that
kill our soldiers in Afghanistan.