A NOVEL FARM SUBSIDY IDEA

About the article by Joel Brinkley in the Jan. 30 Insight section
("Afghanistan props up drug trade with U.S. funds," Jan. 30):

The article talks about how Afghanistan is the world's largest grower
of opium poppies and provides 90 percent of the world's heroin.
Brinkley states that the United States has spent more than $2 billion
on drug enforcement there, and yet the poppies are still being grown.

It is obvious that we have wasted $2 billion, and we continue to
follow a failed policy.

In addition, the Taliban taxes the crops and makes something like $125
million a year.

The United States should become the buyer of the opium poppies. In
that way, the Afghan farmers still make their money, the Taliban is
starved for product and thus has less money, we destroy the poppies
and thus cut down on the amount of drugs throughout the world. Seems
like a win-win situation to me.

Phillip Brown, San Francisco