Afghan / Heroin ..fighting the prohibitionists ... a sane proposal from Senlis

The Senlis Council, is an international drug policy think tank,who have made the radical proposal to call for an immediate halt to all forced crop eradication activities in Afghanistan, warning of irreparable damage to reconstruction and development efforts if these destructive strategies are pursued.

“Eradication is a dangerous and ineffective policy and it attacks those who are profiting least in the opium trade - the farmers,” said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of The Senlis Council. “Farmers are the most vulnerable part of the opium production chain; they are the first casualties of this ineffective tool used to attempt to curb production of opium for heroin.”


The Council also launched a Farmers’ Defence Fund, which has been established to provide assistance to farmers who are victims of forced eradication. It will offer legal assistance to farmers in the event of an arrest; offer financial support to the families of imprisoned farmers; help farmers to take legal action against those who are responsible for the eradication of their crops and assist farmers in obtaining support for the development of alternative livelihoods.

“At the moment nobody is protecting the most vulnerable members of Afghan communities, and those who profit the least from the opium trade – the farmers,” said Reinert. “It is our responsibility to help them, not to take away their livelihoods in a violent manner. To protect farmers against violation of their property rights, we will finance a test case to ascertain the legitimacy of current forced eradication measures,” added Reinert.

As part of the second Phase of research of its Feasibility Study on opium-licensing in Afghanistan, The Senlis Council will invite each province in Afghanistan to send a farmer representative to attend a Farmer’s Jirga which will be organised in April 2006 in Kabul.

“The Jirga will provide farmers – the real stakeholders in Afghanistan’s opium crisis – with the opportunity to become part of the debate and discussion concerning drug policy in Afghanistan,” said Gulalai Momand. “They will be able to share their views on opium licensing, eradication and alternative livelihood programmes.”

The Council said that the results of the Farmers’ Jirga will be shared with the Afghan Government and the international community to provide them with more information on the farmers’ situation and viewpoint.

Floreat Prohibitionists

Yet the conferences by the Prohibitionist roll on ... at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany in November –International cooperation in the long-term fight against drug trafficking dominated the inaugural meeting of the Central and South Asia Counter-Narcotics Security Working Group here this week.

Listen to them ..

“We are taking our first step on what I believe will be a very long road. I talk to people ( involved in counter-narcotics ) and they tell me counter-narcotics is a 50-year solution,” said Air Vice Marshall Michael Heath, Royal Air Force, Senior British Military Advisor to U.S. Central Command and Special Advisor to Commander on Counter-Narcotics. “But it’s nonetheless something we need to undertake and to move on.

“There are undoubtedly long-standing barriers to our cooperation to achieve this. Forums like this will help us eradicate some of those barriers and get us talking together by asking us to seek common solutions.”

“The enemy we’re fighting is adaptable, cunning and obviously driven by enormous greed. He knows no national boundaries, indeed, he operates freely across all of your boundaries. This problem is, therefore…very much a regional issue." Cunning johnnies you know these Afghan drug type says the Air Marshall ... looking forward to a drug free Afghanistan (not to mention Camden and Lozells Road in 2056)

Keynote speaker Ambassador Nancy Powell, the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, expanded on Heath’s theme to link narcotics trafficking with terrorism. Both, she said, flourish where government authority is weak.

“Corruption, which is an indispensable tool of criminals, undermines confidence in government, limits economic and democratic development, and weakens the capacity to contend with the terrorist threat. And, of course, criminal networks which traffic in narcotics may traffic in arms and weapons of mass destruction and move innocent women and children, or even terrorists.”

As we send yet more troops (the first Commandos landed today) maybe we should just step back and consider this very radical proposal.... after all the evidence that eradication doesn't work in Colombia stares us in the face.... and only 5 major dru companies buy (quite legally) morphine and codeine ... so it shouldn't be difficult to get them on board.