THE LOSING BATTLE AGAINST A HOMEGROWN ENEMY

Today, More Afghan Land Than Ever Before Is Used to Grow
Opium-Yielding Poppies, and There's No Consensus on How to Stop It

TORONTO -- Afghanistan's opium poppy cultivation has reached
"frightening record levels" this year, according to a United Nations
report - and much of the heroin is increasingly making its way into
Canada.

An RCMP report shows that most of the heroin seized here in 2005
originated in southwest Asia, specifically Afghanistan and Pakistan.
And the director of the RCMP's drug branch in Ottawa told The Canadian
Press this month that 60 per cent of the heroin on Canadian streets
comes from Afghanistan.

Until a few years ago, most heroin came from southeast Asia, an area
that includes Myanmar, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.

"Southwest Asian heroin dominates the Canadian market, while Southeast
Asian heroin has nearly disappeared," RCMP spokeswoman Sylvie Tremblay
said in an e-mail yesterday.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime released a report yesterday showing
that opium production in Afghanistan has doubled in two years and that
the crop is now grown on 193,000 hectares of land, a 17- per-cent
increase from last year. Opium is the raw material used to make heroin.

Helmand province, where the Taliban is most active, is now the biggest
drug-producing area in the world, surpassing entire countries such as
Colombia and Morocco. And in southern Afghanistan, where instability
is greatest and Canadian troops are stationed, opium cultivation shows
no signs of abating.

Walter Kemp, a spokesman for the UNODC, described the situation as
"depressing." The UN called for a more determined effort by the Afghan
government and the international community to combat insurgency and
drugs.

"Since there's a clear relationship between insurgency and growing
poppy, then NATO should have a vested interest in supporting counter-
narcotics," Mr. Kemp said in an interview from Vienna.

"We're not suggesting that NATO troops should be cutting down opium
fields. But destroying heroin labs, for example, closing opium
markets, seizing opium convoys, helping to round up the drug
traffickers, these are the kinds of things that NATO has a vested
interest in supporting."

Canada has pledged about $55-million for counternarcotics programs,
including $18.5-million to promote alternative livelihoods for farmers
in Kandahar. But Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Ambra Dickie acknowledges
that it's difficult to fix a drug problem that has developed over decades.

"The cultivation of poppies in Afghanistan is the result of years of
conflict and instability which has been systemically exploited by drug
traffickers, leaving farmers with few other choices," she said.

Captain Adam Thomson, a spokesman for the Department of National
Defence, said soldiers are not directly involved in opium-eradication
programs. Rather, Canadian troops indirectly support anti-drug
programs by trying to establish security in the region and helping
train Afghan police.

"We do a lot of things to work towards counternarcotics strategy. But
we're not directly involved," Capt. Thomson said. "It's not part of
the current mandate in the Canadian forces to conduct drug-eradication
operations."

Mr. Kemp suggests that it's time for NATO troops to play a more active
role.

"Development and security go hand in hand. We say that eradicating
poverty and eradicating poppy have to go hand in hand," he said.

Despite the overall increase in opium production, yesterday's report
had some good news. Twice as many provinces in northern and central
Afghanistan are opium-free, despite widespread poverty.

But some of the most fertile regions in the south have become the
opium-producing heartland, the UN said. The Taliban controls large
swaths of territory and encourages farmers to grow opium. Opium poppy
cultivation in Kandahar, for example, has increased 32 per cent.

According to the 2007 World Drug Report, roughly 92 per cent of the
world's heroin comes from Afghanistan.

Mr. Kemp said most of it makes its way to Europe. Still, he said that
demand is not high for the increased opium production.

"The question is, if there's more supply than demand, where's the rest
of it going? And we don't know," he said.

"It could be that some people are stockpiling it as a hedge against
prices falling in the future, or people are stockpiling it for some
kind of criminal activity or even terrorist activity, or there could
be new markets that we don't know about."

Paul Nadeau, the director of the RCMP's drug branch, has told The
Canadian Press that Afghan heroin usually gets to Canada through
Pakistan and then India, or western Africa, then through the United
States. Police trace the smuggling routes to reveal the drug's country
of origin.

Mr. Nadeau was on vacation and not available for comment
yesterday.

How to deal with the increased opium cultivation in Afghanistan has
been the subject of much debate. Some argue that destroying crops is
the only answer.

The Senlis Council, an international policy think tank, says that
farmers are cultivating opium poppies because they have no profitable
alternatives. The council suggests legalizing poppy production in
Afghanistan to supply the developing world with medicine. Opium is the
raw material for morphine and other drugs.

"The alarming UN figures of 2007 should be reason enough to try a
different approach, tailored to the realities of Afghanistan in terms
of security and development," Emmanuel Reinert, the group's executive
director, said in a press release yesterday.

Critics question whether demand for legal products is high enough, and
insist that it wouldn't keep opium from insurgents.

Roland Paris, associate professor of public and international affairs
at the University of Ottawa and a former foreign policy adviser in the
Department of Foreign Affairs, argues that destroying opium crops will
not work. Poor farmers who depend on it would start to resent the
Afghan government and foreign forces.

Instead, he suggests exploring other options, including subsidizing
alternative crops in the name of achieving certain public-policy goals.

"It is better to have no policy than to have one that's
self-defeating," Prof. Paris said.

The Farmers' Point of View

While northern and central provinces in Afghanistan saw opium
cultivation drop, the illicit crop exploded in other regions of the
country this year, according to a UN report.

Opium poppy cultivation increased 32 per cent in Kandahar. It has
climbed 48 per cent in Helmand province. And in the eastern Nangarhar
province, it has soared 285 per cent.

Why This Increase?

Almost 30 per cent of farmers surveyed in the report said the main
reason for opium poppy cultivation is poverty. Other reasons included
the high sale price of opium and its high demand.

The majority of farmers surveyed said they would be ready to stop
opium poppy cultivation should they have access to alternative
livelihoods. Many said they would prefer employment off their farms or
to farm other crops but have the same income.

The survey estimated that 509,000 families were involved in opium
poppy production this year, a 14 per cent increase from the previous
year.

On the other side of the coin, farmers who have never cultivated opium
poppies listed religion as the main reason they stay away from it,
followed by it being illegal.

Those who stopped cultivating the crop this year also listed religion
as the reason. About 16 per cent said fears of crop eradication also
led them to stop cultivating opium this year.

In its report, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime called for greater
deterrents to keep farmers from planting opium.

It suggests higher rewards for non-opium farmers who demonstrate
alternatives.

"Assistance is plentiful but not being disbursed fast enough,"
executive director Antonio Maria Costa said in a release. "I see a
risk of some provinces sliding back to poppy cultivation."

[sidebar]

THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM

Afghan farmers are sowing and reaping more poppies than ever before.
Helmand province, by itself, is the biggest drug-producing area of the
world, even outstripping the yield of entire countries.

Alternatives to Opium Poppy*

Jobs off the farm 27.7%

Other crops with same income 22.7%

Provision of credits 12.4%

Marketing 10.1%

Agricultural subsidies 8.7%

Other crops with half of poppy income 7.5%

Agricultural-base industry 6.0%

Provision of irrigation 1.6%

No alternative/prefer poppy 1.4%

Orchards 1.1%

Other 0.5%

Better husbandry system 0.3%

Giving land to landless farmers 0.2%

*as chosen by 724 poppy growing farmers.

Source: United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Government Of
Afghanistan - Ministry of Counter Narcotics