POPPIES TOUTED AS A GOOD THING

Canadian and United Nations experts are dismissing key elements of a
report by an international think-tank that urges Canada to take the
lead in developing new NATO strategies in Afghanistan such as
legitimizing poppy production to meet Third World demands for
painkillers.

The Senlis Council report, originally released in June, was submitted
to a symposium yesterday, where the Conference of Defence Associations
dismissed its main recommendation as superficial and
nonsensical.

The paper by Norine MacDonald, the development and security think
tank's lead field researcher in Kandahar province, says the military
situation in southern Afghanistan has declined dramatically in recent
months due largely to a failure to win the hearts and minds of the
local populace.

MacDonald says Canada needs to distinguish itself from U.S. bombing,
U.S. military strategy and poverty bred by U.S.-led eradication of
poppy crops - all of which, she contends, have created an environment
hostile to all NATO troops.

Her recommendations include a call for implementation of a
poppy-licensing system in Afghanistan to allow production of
much-needed pain-relieving medicines such as morphine and codeine for
developing countries.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported in its
Afghanistan Opium Survey 2006 that opium poppy acreage increased 59%
last year.

Afghan opium production - some 6,100 tonnes, worth more than $50
billion US annually - accounts for 92% of global opium supply.

Brian MacDonald, a military analyst with the Conference of Defence
Associations, called the Senlis proposal a "novel" approach, but added
that a price analysis of the opium trade suggests there wouldn't be
much incentive for farmers to participate.

"Mind you," he wrote in response to the Senlis paper, "it would only
cost about $760 million a year to meet the drug lord price, which
might well be a bargain.

"On the other hand, the drug lords might have a different view of the
Senlis buyers and the potential loss of their $2.3-billion-US-per-year
revenue stream."