Afghanistan, the UN, and Opium - PhillyBlog

tmcgee · #1 (**permalink**) 11-20-2004, 08:47 AM

It's not well understood, I think, how opposed a lot of conservatives are to the War on Drugs. From the National Review's blog, "The Corner":

Quote:

THE UN PUTS THE BOOT IN [Andrew Stuttaford]

The organization may be corrupt, malign and useless, but is it too much to expect that the UN will not set out actively to wreck Afghanistan's new democracy? It seems that it is.. Read this report from the Independent and consider its implications:

"So alarmed is the UN [by increased opium production in Afghanistan] that it is suggesting a remedy more radical than any that has been put forward before - bringing in US and British forces to fight a drugs war similar to the war on terror. It wants them to destroy farmers' crops on a massive scale before they can be harvested."

If there is anything more guaranteed to alienate the locals than that particular bone-headed suggestion, I can't think what it is. As to the wider point, it is only the 'war on drugs' that makes possible the super profits that make opium such a valuable currency for terrorists and other criminals. War against terror or war against drugs? You can't fight both, and I think that I know which one matters most.

http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp

tmcgee

Winston · #2 (**permalink**) 11-20-2004, 09:48 AM

I agree. The war on drugs is a huge waste of time and money. Legalize it, regulate it... and tax the hell out of it. Bye-bye national debt!

chrissayer · #3 (**permalink**) 11-20-2004, 11:35 AM

I'm curious, however. If you are all so opposed to the War on Drugs - and the Afghan situation is not falling under our (US) war on drugs, rather obviously, what is it that you all would do.

Afghanistan is, according to most sources, becoming an absolute heroin/opium narco-world. Should we simply turn away and say "farmers will be farmers, let them grow whatever they want."

I don't know what the answer is . . . but the problem is real, and simply spouting anti-UN jargon and saying the drug war sucks does not do alot to solve it.

Here's another take on it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6520173/

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