DRUG WAR NEEDS ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES

Afghanistan's crop of opium poppies has increased sharply, creating
concern that this will undermine the stability of the government.

Recently I saw a reporter talk to a young Afghan farmer standing in
his field of opium poppies. He said they required little water to
grow, but if deep wells were dug he would prefer to grow other crops.
So instead of more guns, let's dig wells and see if irrigation will
help solve this problem.

And let's subsidize the price of coffee to exceed the money that is
made growing cocaine in Colombia and see if that isn't cheaper than
trying to suppress that trade by military force.

Jean McCommon,

Byhalia, Miss.