AFGHAN WAR ON DRUGS STILL MAKES SENSE

Re: "War on drugs should be waged here," opinion, Sept. 1.

It is specious reasoning to imply that interdiction of the opium
trade is not an important strategic target for NATO troops.

Cutting off the flow of narco-dollars that is used to purchase
weapons, ammunition and bombs being used to kill our soldiers is
clearly an objective worth pursuing.

That the likely result of such a strategy will be significantly less
heroin on North American streets translates into a huge benefit to
the war on drugs at home, not to mention the invaluable
narco-intelligence that is being gained through the presence of our
military at the very heart of the opium trade.

It makes much more sense to intercept a truckload of heroin in
Afghanistan or some point in between there and North America before
the load is split and transferred through various levels of
traffickers making interception of the entire shipment virtually impossible.

Connor Whelan,

Ladysmith.