AFGHANISTAN DRUG TRADE

Regarding Doug Bandow's Oct. 12 commentary, Afghanistan profits from
the opium trade because of drug prohibition, not in spite of it.
Attempts to limit the supply of drugs while demand remains constant
only increases the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive
drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to
increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits.

The U.S. drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Heroin produced
in Afghanistan is primarily consumed in Europe, a continent already
experimenting with harm reduction alternatives to the drug war.
Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce
drug-related disease, death, and crime. Addicts would not be sharing
needles if not for zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean
syringes, nor would they be committing crimes if not for artificially
inflated black-market prices.

Heroin maintenance pilot projects are underway in Germany, Spain and
the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would
deprive organized crime of its core client base. This would render
illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations
addiction. Putting public health before politics may send the wrong
message to children, but I'd like to think the children are more
important than the message.

Robert Sharpe,

Policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C.