AFGHAN OPIUM

FARMERS MUST BE GIVEN INCENTIVES NOT TO GROW POPPIES

The poppy fields of Afghanistan are expected to produce bumper crops
of opium in the next three or four months, to be turned into heroin
and morphine to feed the cravings of desperate addicts in Europe and
America.

For most Afghan farmers, opium growing is simply a means of feeding
their family. For Westerners, opium is a scourge that has resulted in
the early ruin and death of millions of people.

Opium and its offspring morphine and heroin are the enemies of
civilization just as al-Qaida and terrorists are.

Afghanistan was producing three-quarters of the world's opium in 1999
before Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered poppy growing stopped. Now with
the Taliban whipped by U.S.-led forces and the one-eyed Omar on the
run, Afghan farmers are getting back in the drug business.

The United States and its allies will be trading one danger for
another if they do not impose on Afghanistan's new leaders the
necessity to put an end to opium production. This will call for
additional aid to be provided to farmers and possibly other incentives
to kill their poppy plants. The United States and allies must also
seek greater cooperation from bordering Pakistan and Iran to interdict
drug smugglers and break down traffickers.

Terrorists can take lives in a heartbeat and disrupt economies in a
few minutes. Drugs, such as heroin, may take years to destroy people
and their families, but they just as surely cause a terrible toll on
any nation's human and economic resources.