POLITICS OF POPPIES

In 2000, Afghanistan's production of the global opium/heroin supply
was 70 percent. In 2005, it was 87 percent; in 2006, 92 percent.

This steady increase in annual poppy harvests has occurred despite
the country's occupation by U.S. military and coalition forces since
2001. In fact, these harvests can be seen as a direct result of U.S.
intelligence agencies overseeing the distribution routes for this
very lucrative crop. For examples of complicity, read "Who Benefits
from the Afghan Opium Trade?" by Michel Chossudovsky, Gary Webb's
book Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine
Explosion and Deep Cover by Mike Levine.

Millions of drug users have been locked up and billions of taxpayer
dollars spent, yet an estimated 10 million people worldwide are still
heroin dependent, with over one million users residing in the U.S.

Why has the War on Drugs failed so miserably? Looking under its
surface, this war was never meant to be won. It was created as a cash
cow -- with myriad government agencies and their corporate partners
milking its never-ending wealth of subsidies.

During the 1960s and '70s, most of the world's heroin supply
originated in the Golden Triangle of Southeast Asia. In the 1990s,
the majority of heroin seized in the U.S. came from South America. In
this century, military forces and U.S. intelligence agencies have
relocated once again to produce this year's glaring statistic: In
2007, Afghanistan supplied 95 percent of the world's heroin.

Robert Simms

Corvallis