Senlis Council - a voice of reason in Afghan drugs crisis

Every year drug use and drug trafficking increase, and as a result every year the global illicit drug trade grows and has been estimated as the world’s second largest industry. This is having drastic consequences on the world’s economy, health and security. Thus, it is clear that the current international drug control system has failed to protect both individuals and society from the drug problem.

The Senlis Council is working to promote a plan to license opium / heroin production in Afghanistan for commercial use.

In the light of the Afghanistan International Donors Conference, the Senlis Council held The London Conference on the Afghan Development and Security Crisis on Monday 30 January, followed by the Landmark Journey of Afghan Farmers to the United Kingdom from Friday 3 to Monday 6 February. Both events revealed the state of deep crisis of current Afghanistan reconstruction efforts. Drug policy lies at the core of these efforts, but with traditional approaches, most particularly crop eradication, failing to address the deep-rooted nature of the opium crisis, the entire stability of the country is under threat. The Senlis Council’s series of events also aimed to give a voice to the most vulnerable groups of the opium crisis, namely, farmers and drug user communities. Calling for new thinking on Afghanistan Security and Development During the press conference, the Executive Director of The Senlis Council, Mr Emmanuel Reinert, stressed that drug policy lies at the heart of the Afghan security and development crisis, and as such the failing drug policies currently being applied in Afghanistan must be urgently addressed.

Eradication activities in particular are counterproductive and are undermining reconstruction and development efforts in the country. Mr Reinert revealed that The Senlis Council has proof that aerial spraying campaigns are being planned for Afghanistan, and underlined the disaster this would spell for not only the millions of Afghan people who depend on poppy cultivation for survival, but also the international community presently engaged in development and security efforts within the country.

Mr Reinert questioned the legality of forced eradication campaigns, and noted that The Senlis Council was investigating this issue, especially with regard to the international community’s mandate and NATO’s guidelines in Afghanistan.

Report available here

Minister of defence John Reid is sending UK troops out on an ill defined mission ...he said at Kings College on Monday ..."The British army is a superb and deeply ethical professional body precisely because it seeks to inject morality - right and wrong - into the harsh reality of warfare .... It is precisely this confusion about the morality of drugs / and the reality of subsistence farming which the Senlis Council addresses in a radical program.

Find out more abour the Senlis Council NOW.

...you might also read

US plans war on al-Qaida's Afghan opium Guradian 24th November 2003

"This is going to be the biggest frickin' pheasant drive you've ever seen," the American official said.

And just published on the web an excellent article A Better Strategy Against Narcoterrorism By Vanda Felbab-Brown from MIT , AlterNet. Feb 14, 2006.

Afghanistan Five Years Later - The Return of the Taliban

The Senlis Council is an international policy think tank with offices in Kabul, London ( 17, Queen Anne's Gate London SW1H 9BU), Paris and Brussels. The Council’s work encompasses foreign policy, security, development and counter-narcotics policies and provides innovative analysis and proposals.

The opium poppy is the traditional crop and the raw material for essential medicines such as morphine and codeine. Senlis say therefore there is a huge potential to be re-directed into legal channels becoming a major driver for Afghanistan’s rural development and addressing the global shortage of opium-based medicines. This would be done by licensing the growth of poppies and controlling the legal distribution for medecines.

Senlis today launched a new report with a press conference (Press release here)
The report, "Afghanistan Five Years Later - The Return of the Taliban" can be downloaded here (PDF alert)

They highlight the fact that 900% more has been spent on military affairs than reconstruction, that there is widesrpead suspicion and disenchantment, especially with the US.For example Marvin Weinbaum, a former analyst with the U.S. State Department who now works with the Middle East Institute is quoted in the Toronto Star "We were trying to get rid of the bad guys and said, once we do that, we'll get around to doing development. It never happened. ...The credibility ... was lost when they got neither the security they expected nor the reconstruction that they were hoping for. "

The Senlis Council report reaches some conclusions about the last 5 years.

Ignoring extreme poverty is destroying nation-building efforts

The prioritisation of Western domestic security needs in Afghanistan translates into dead Afghans. The success of the initial invasion in 2001 has not been followed by real changes in the everyday lives of most Afghans.

Futile counter-narcotics policies intensify the security and poverty crises

Failing counter-narcotics policies driven by the international community intent on pushing its War on Drugs in Afghanistan are inflaming poverty and worsening the security crisis in the country. Farmers seeing their livelihoods destroyed by international forces fail to see the benefits in their country. Eradication policies generate local hostility and suspicion towards the designs of the international community in Afghanistan... which leads to ..

Failure of nation-building project makes fertile ground for Taliban revival

The results of the international community’s nation-building efforts in Afghanistan are largely symbolic for Afghans and are more in line with the ‘homeland security’ objectives of the foreign forces rather than the real needs of Afghans. A rejuvenated, re - armed Taliban is exploiting such widespread resentment to stir up instability."They are not fighting for us, they are fighting for themselves".

Total military spending vs. total development spending in Afghanistan. 2002-2006

Despite the extreme poverty in Afghanistan, the majority of spending by the international community is on military rather than development and poverty relief projects.

More comment here and a previous post from Lord Patel Tuesday, July 4 2006 Afghanistan - Stalky & Co Redux

Update Wednesday
The photos and the videos from the Senlis Afghanistan Report Afghanistan Five Years Later: The Return of the Taliban are now available online:

To view the Video Report, go to:
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/014_publication/dvd_extracts
To view the Photo Report, go to:
http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/014_publication/dvd_extracts/photo_library

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.

Senlis - Symposium on Afghanistan - the only people who talk sense on the problems and have some answers

The Senlis Council, in collaboration with The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), will be holding a symposium on “A Cohesive Strategy for the Future of Afghanistan: Reconciling Counter-Insurgency, Counter-Narcotics and Reconstruction Efforts”, on 14 February 2007 at 11:00am , Arundel House, London.

The symposium intends to make recommendations on how to reconcile the Counter-Insurgency, Counter-Narcotics and Reconstruction strands of the effort in Afghanistan.

Keynote speakers

Lieutenant General David Richards, Commander, NATO-International Security Assistance Force - who has just been replaced and who did not get on too well with the US forces assigned to NATO (pic NATO)

General Abdul Rahim Wardak, Minister of Defence, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Ms Norine MacDonald QC, President and Lead Field Researcher for Afghanistan, The Senlis Council

Plus other speakers knoweadgeable about the issues and the region.
Mr Peter Bergen, Dr Patrick Cronin, Ambassador James Dobbins,Dr David Kilcullen, Ms Elizabeth Kvitashvili, Mullah Taj Mohammad Mujahid, Ms Hawa Alam Nuristani, Mr Larry Sampler. For further information

Afghanistan - Stalky & Co Redux

The highly respected Senlis Council released a report on June 28th based on Field Interviews conducted by The Senlis Council’s international and Afghan staff in Kandahar over the last two months. The report was on the Canadian efforts in Afghanistan and starkly titled ..."Following US policies is turning Canadian military operation in Afghanistan into a suicide mission"

Emmanuel Reinert, is the Executive Director of The Senlis Council and he says ,“Most farmers feel abandoned and cheated by the central government and the international community,” said Reinert. “This has given way to a dramatic switch in alliance to the only people who they believe are showing any understanding of their needs – the Taliban.”

The Report indicates that the large-scale aggressive forced eradication of poppy crops in Kandahar, led by the US, has contributed in a significant way to the discontent of the local populations and that a wave of New Taliban are cashing-in on the local population’s disillusionment with the foreign military presence.

The Report notes that foreign troops are increasingly being seen as aggressors rather than peace-keepers in the eyes of the local population, due to aggressive military interventions which have caused numerous civilian deaths and casualties in the past months.

“The US has lost yet more of the support of the local people with the blood of innocent civilians on their hands,” said Reinert. “The problem facing the Canadian troops who have been assisting in the US led anti terrorist mission Operation Enduring Freedom, is that the local populations do not differentiate between the various nationalities – foreign troops are foreign troops. And foreign troops have killed their loved ones or other members of their communities.”

The field research in Kandahar revealed that the number of civilian deaths in the province has doubled from 2005 to 2006. Of the total number of fatalities for 2005 and the first half of 2006 (until the end of June 2006), civilian deaths represented an astonishing 22 percent of total fatalities. This equals the amount of Afghan Army and police forces killed in Kandahar.

An example of the military mindset could be found on BBC On LIne report this week ....

Captain Drew Gibson, a spokesman for the British military in southern Afghanistan, said the two UK soldiers killed in Helmand had been taking part in a "planned operation".

"The patrol was supported by close air support and by the quick reaction force that came out to support them," he said.

"Both those forces were then involved in separate contact incidents, and both were supported by close air support and artillery."

Or you might take another perspective when the gormless Mr Hoon (described as a FO Minister) On Tuesday June 27th in the House of Commons stated ...."Actually, there has been remarkable progress in Afghanistan since 2001. There have been presidential elections, parliamentary elections, and the establishment of a Government who are now increasingly able to extend their authority throughout the country. That is a success to celebrate. It does not mean that difficulties do not occur from time to time, but it is something on which I think we should all congratulate President Karzai and his Government. They are increasingly in control of their own country, as should be the case."

... all this under " the umbrella of security that our soldiers are working so hard to create"

Which was somewhat at odds with the views of Mr. Tobias Ellwood (Bournemouth, East) (Con) recently returned from a bumpy trip to Afghanistan.

" ....and I was shocked to see how bad co-ordination is on the international development and reconstruction front. There is a conflict of interests between United Nations and European Union agencies, as well as the myriad of non-governmental organisations that answer to no one. A fundamental lack of leadership is leading to the pursuing of separate agendas, and to the wasting of money as projects overlap."

Send out more troops ? ... make sure we send out more body bags.

War Zone Hospitals in Afghanistan: A Symbol of Wilful Neglect

"Health is a fundamental human right indispensable for the exercise of other human rights. very human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity". World Health Organisation

Hospitals in Kandahar and Helmand are dilapidated, barren and filthy.

In Kandahar and Lashkar Gah, the hospitals are in a state complete decay. Around Kandahar and Helmand province there are at least ten makeshift refugee camps, each providing shelter for as many as 75,000 people. A public and glaring symbol of the international community’s evident lack of concern for the Afghan people. (Infant mortality rate (per 1,000 live births) 2006 : Canada 5 Afghanistan 165 )

The absence of basic war zone trauma treatment, medical diagnostic and treatment equipment, medicines, oxygen, and trained staff, contrasts dramatically with the sophisticated medical services that the international military and NATO have installed on their bases.

5 years of military operations involving air strikes, bombing, ground assaults, have taken their toll on the people, houses, public buildingsand services as well as transport infrastructure, safe drinking water, and sewage management. Famine and drought complete the miserable picture.(Life expectancy at birth (years) 2006 : Canada 80 Afghanistan 43).

The result of this disregard for the welfare of Afghan people results in anger and frustration. Support is lost and is transferred to other well funded, armed groups supporting a variety of causes but all united in the desire to rid their country of the Americans and their European allies.

Kandahar Hospital has been the recipient of trumpeted interventions by the United States-led Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), who "refurbished the women’s wing and rebuilt the infectious disease ward in early 2005." However, there are no signs of such interventions. The wing remains untouched by renovation or equipment. During on-site visits, nothing was witnessed other than women labouring in pain.
The British government, charged by NATO with military operations in Helmand, has provided a
generator for the Bost Hospital at Lashkar Gah and paid for steel containers to replace the morgue – each at the cost of £600,000. The UK Gubment and its Department for
International Development (Prop. The Viscount Stansgate's son, Hilary Benn) direct their health sector development funding through the European Commission (Britain provides 19% of the €1 billion pledged to Afghanistan by the EC).

Further reconstruction aid is sent through the British-led PRT in Helmand, who have a £6.5 million budget for quick-impact projects, (Ho.Ho.Ho.) but the budget for healthcare in comparison with other projects is limited. In terms of healthcare, the region surrounding Lashkar Gah is devoid of any visible sign of PRT projects, as of 31 January 2007.

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) donations were being assigned to multilateral projects rather than to specifically Kandahar-based ones: according
to the committee, “CIDA activity in the Kandahar area has been sparse.” In February
2007, the only sign of CIDA’s presence in Kandahar are bright yellow garbage cans
sporting the Canadian flag distributed along the main roads of the city. Since the report,(Canadian Senate Standing Committee on Defence) Canada has refocused aid towards Kandahar, with the announcement of CAD$11.5 million earmarked for reconstruction in the province, including CAD$350,000 for UNICEF to establish a maternal “waiting” ward near Mirwais Hospital. As far as could be seen from site visits to the hospital at the end of January 2007, construction has not yet started. (Health expediture per capita per annum : Canada (US$ 2989 Aghanistan US$26)

In 2001, Non-Governmental Organisations were providing and managing 80% of
healthcare services in the country. The highly regarded Médécins sans Frontières was obliged to leave the country after attacks on its staff in 2004 - they have not returned.

The fiction persist that Afghan is not "occupied" , but the Afghan civilians have become the unwilling victims of a war that is not their own." Minimis(ing) civilian suffering in a time of war," required by the Geneva Conventions is seen as an irrelevance - professional soldiers are engaged in combat not comforting the wounded.


Not enough has been done - Senlis make 5 recommendations -

1. Introduce emergency field treatment of civilians injured in fighting and
bombing

2. Immediately Provide Mobile Field Hospitals

3. Rebuild existing hospitals to help Afghans and provide jobs

4. Implement outreach and training programmes to foster sustainable
improvements in health

5. Build new hospitals to international standards to meet Afghans’ expectations

Codifying the Right to Health in Afghanistan
“The state shall provide free preventative healthcare and treatment of diseases as well as
medical facilities to all citizens in accordance with the provisions the law. Establishment and
expansion of private medical services as well as health centers shall be encouraged and
protected by the state in accordance with the provisions of the law.”
Article 52, 2004 Afghan Constitution

Countering the Insurgency in Afghanistan: Losing Friends and Making Enemies - Report by the Senlis Council Published today Senlis Council

Senlis Council produce yet another despairing report on poppy cultivation, heroin production and trafficking in Afghanistan

"In the past year (2007-2008), opium production in Afghanistan reached a record level, estimated at 8,200 tons of raw opium. Traffickers also refined much of the opium into heroin before exporting it. The Taliban-led insurgency supported by al-Qaida spread to new areas in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The level of terrorism, especially suicide bombings, set record
levels in both countries, hitting high-profile targets such as Pakistan’s most popular politician, Benazir Bhutto, and the Serena Hotel in Kabul. After six years of assistance to the Afghan government by the UN, NATO, the world’s major military powers, the world’s largest aid donors, and international specialists on all subjects, the expansion of both the illicit industry and the insurgency constitutes a powerful indictment of international policy and capacity."

"In Afghanistan, nearly a third of the economy and probably an equal percentage of the population depends economically on the opium economy. Drug production affects not just farm income. It affects the balance of payments, tax revenues (through imports), the rate of exchange, employment, retail turnover, and construction."

Counter-Narcotics to Stabilize Afghanistan: The False Promise of Crop Eradication by Barnett R. Rubin & Jake Sherman, Senlis Council April 2008

This paints a bleak picture of the program for poppy eradication and that any such program will takes many years , if not decades. This brief sentence sums up the whole desperate and futile campaign .... " .. law enforcement cannot defeat an elite consensus. And the elite consensus in Afghanistan right now is that foreigners have offered no credible alternative to the opium economy."

Child trafficking

One remarkable fact (if true) is contained within a survey by Charney Research Page 12 .."
one out of seven respondents in poppy growing provinces and one in four in Helmand said they knew of farming families who had sold their children (most likely girls) in payment of opium debts as a result of eradication.

Farmers are advanced money "salaam" as a sort of futue contract on their crop, if this is destroyed b the US / NATO forces the debt stands.

Taliban expand grip on Afghanistan and surround Kabul

The Senlis Council , one of the few independent and rational bodies that publishes reports on Afghanistan has decided to become the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS)

They claim this reflects their continuing expansion of programmes and new research platforms in various zones of conflict. They also have a new website and have produced a a report today
Struggle for Kabul: The Taliban Advance (pdf 40 pages).

They claim that the Taliban have rooted themselves itself across increasing swathes of Afghan territory. ICOS have been researching throughout 2008, and say that the Taliban now has a permanent presence in 72% of the country.. up from 54% in November 2007 as outlined in the ICOS (Senlis) report Stumbling into Chaos: Afghanistan on the Brink.

They also claim that the Taliban are the de facto governing power in a number of southern towns and villages. This illustrates the Taliban’s political, military and economic strategies are now more successful than the West’s in Afghanistan. Confident in their expansion beyond the rural south, the Taliban are at the gates of the capital and are now infiltrating the city at will.

Kabul is increasingly surrounded

There are four principal routes into / out of Kabul.

1. To the West, towards the Afghan National Ring Road through Wardak to Kandahar become unsafe for Afghan or international travel by the time travellers reach the entrance to Wardak province, which is about thirty minutes from the city limits.
2. To the South the road to Logar is no longer safe for Afghan or international travel.
3. To the east the road to Jalalabad is not safe for Afghan or international travel once travellers reach the Sarobi Junction which is about an hour outside of the city.
3. There are 2 northern routes ;

a) The road North towards the Bagram Air Base is frequently used by foreign and military convoys and subject to insurgent attacks.

b) The road North towards the Panjshir valley, Salang tunnel and Mazar – is considered safe for Afghan and international travel.

As the noose tightens around Kabul the Taliban have established bases close to the city from which to launch attacks inside it. Using these bases, the Taliban and insurgent attacks in Kabul have increased dramatically – including kidnapping of Afghans and foreigners, various bomb attacks and assassinations.

This dynamic has created a fertile environment for criminal activity, and the links between the Taliban and criminals are increasing and the lines between the various violent actors becoming blurred.

As this report is published the BBC report that the Taliban have attacked another depot in Peshawar and destroyed a further 50 vehicles in addition to the 100 destroyed at another depot on Sunday.



US Marines get ready to deploy to Afghanistan

Gen. James Conway, the Marine Corps commandant, is reported today by AP (Marines will shift to Afghanistan) that Marine units tentatively scheduled to go to Iraq next spring are already incorporating some training for Afghanistan into their preparations.

He said he has had discussions with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and believes the Pentagon chief "would not object to the idea of a fairly strategic shift of focus of Marines from Iraq to Afghanistan."

"I just see that people have, over time, understood we don't want to take over Afghanistan, such as was rumored when we first started talking about a shift of forces,"

Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, has said he needs up to 20,000 additional troops, including four combat brigades and thousands of support troops.

Conway said several Marine units will be moving into Iraq in January and February, and it is too late to redirect them to Afghanistan. Instead, he said another large turnover of units in Anbar around April could be shifted to Afghanistan if they are notified soon.

A DoD News Briefing with Maj. Gen. Tucker (Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations for ISAF, Deputy Commander for Operations, U.S. Forces ) from Afghanistan at the Pentagon Briefing Room, Arlington, Va. on the 5th December makes interesting reading in view of the above.

Especially in relation to the need for helicopters.

UK legal poppy production grows as Afghanis farmers feed worldwide illicit demand

We have long been a supporter of the Senlis Council (Friday, April 18, 2008 Senlis Council produce yet another despairing report on poppy cultivation, heroin production and trafficking in Afghanistan and here )who promote the idea of legitimising the growing of Afghanistan poppies for the commercial production of morphine - for which world demand is growing.

This picture illustrated a story in the Daily Mail and was wryly brought to our attention by the headline "The painkilling fields: England’s opium poppies that tackle the NHS morphine crisis" at Aftermath News . last June.

One wonders however how the crop this year has fared with the summer and wet autumn.

Apparently pharmaceutical company Macfarlan Smith ( a subsidiary of Johnson Matthey plc (JMAT:L) -"world leader in the production of alkaloid opiates and other controlled drugs."), one one of the world's oldest pharmaceutical companies, have a licence from the Home Office to harvest the poppies, which now bedeck fields across Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. Who knows they may be feeding it directly into our prisons to maintain the obedience of inmates ?

Evidently they are doing a fine job and on 1st September 2008, Macfarlan Smith was officially granted ISO 14001 certification. Johnson Matthey plc shares had a nasty turn today closing down 8.5% (134p) at 1,441p.

Lord Bassam of Brighton talks in his sleep

Whilst Ruth Kelly and Margaret Beckett are members of the Gubment it seems unreasonable, inaccurate even, to say that the splendidly named and unelected (and unelectable) Lord Bassam of Brighton (created 1997) is the stupidest member of the New Labour criminal fraternity . (Very strongly in favour of smoking ban and ID cards)

However his performance on Tuesday in the House of Lords takes some beating. (Pic 4th left over the V in Hove)

My Lord Cobbold rose to ask what seems a reasonable question. The Home Secretary in January 2005 announced a "root and branch review of the ABC system of drug classification". The current sytem is based, it is claimed, on classifying drugs on the degree of self harm they cause.

My Lord Cobbold (David Antony Fromanteel Lytton Cobbold. 2nd Baron created 1960 - father Governor of the Bank of England from 1949/1961 and sensibly married into the Bulwer-Lyttons of Knebworth House - believes Members of HOL should retire at 75 or 80 - C) was aware of "the excellent report of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, Drug Classification: Making a hash of it." and pointed to their conclusion on Page 48

“we have found glaring anomalies in the classification system as it stands and a wide consensus that the current system is not fit for purpose”.

He pointed out that the drugs trade is the second largest global business after oil, and it is all in the hands of criminals. Did the Minister consider this to be acceptable?

Or ...would the Gubment agree ...

" the real problem is not about detailed composition of their classification system but that current national and international drugs policies are as a whole not fit for purpose? Is it not obvious that prohibition, as the late Milton Friedman once wrote,

“is an attempted cure that makes matters worse”?

Lord Bassam of Brighton: (All this happened just after Prayers at 2.30 so one perhaps should take into account that My Lord Bassam may have been digesting a comforting and splendid lunch - perhaps with the addition of a decent claret and maybe a post prandial port or three).

"I am aware that there are some critics of the classification system, but we have to base our policy on something. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has served us well in advising not just our Government, but successive Governments, on the best course of action with regard to particular types of drugs and their derivatives."

Of course my Lord Bassam was right, although not helpful, nor indeed did he answer the question, but merely stated some easily determined facts and placed the blame squarely, if not fairly on the oddly named Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs . A point which the sharp minded The Countess of Mar was swift to point out ;

"My Lords, the noble Lord did not really answer the question put to him by the noble Lord Swinfen - Can he please tell us what consideration Her Majesty’s Government have given to purchasing the harvest of opium from Afghanistan and using it for medicinal purposes in this country? "

The policy of the excellent and very sensible Senlis Council - see endless postings here.

Lord Bassam of Brighton: My Lords, my understanding from colleagues across government is that we are looking to ensure that crop substitution takes place. Work is being undertaken on that. (Whilst dodging the bullets in Helmand province no doubt)

Lord Tebbit: My Lords, can the Minister tell us whether it is the Government’s view that legalising any particular drug would be likely to increase or to decrease its consumption?

At which point the blundering Lord was saved (as it were) by the bell, as Lord Rooker The Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs curtailed further debate by reminding the House that in its quaint way "My Lords, I am sorry, but we are well into the eighth minute, and we must move on...."

Perhaps it would be right to mention that Baroness Gardner of Parkes had also asked about ,"What can be done to prevent tragedies occurring where someone has caused even death due to driving under the influence of drugs? to which the beached Bassam provided, not an answer but some fascinating statistics....

"My Lords, the noble Baroness is right that we should focus our attention on the practical impact of substance misuse. It is for that reason that the Government have invested as heavily as they have in drug treatment and tackling misuse. Since 2001-02, £7.5 billion has been invested by the Government in tackling drug abuse. In the past year alone, the Government invested £1.5 billion, and a further £86 million was made available for treatment services. If we can start to deal with drugs issues in those ways, we have a greater chance of success."

"There are examples of success in terms of reducing people’s interest in and consumption of drugs "

..... but he failed to provide any.

One could be forgiven for worrying about the way our legislators handle the greatest social evil of our times, the greatest criminal enterprise (although VAT fraud is fast overtaking) and the most profoundly damaging effect on young people, prostitution, people trafficking, crime committed to indulge in drugs ....

Curious how expenditure of £7.5 Mn with no demonstrable effect on the problems of drugs misuse is decribed as ..... an investment.

It seems very unreasonable that we should taunt these chaps after a decent lunch with all these difficult questions, and expect answers -

Rio de Janiero - Revelations

The Senlis Council are holding their International Symposium on Public Security and Drug Policy , Sofitel Hotel , Rio de Janeiro from today until 27th February.

This event brings together international authorities, experts and policy makers to discuss the most pressing challenges facing public security and law enforcement. In particular the ways in which the problem of drugs impact on public security, and the relationship between drug policy and public security policies will be explored.

For the complete program go here

To view their report on Policy Recommendations for Afghanistan - the only sensible one proposed to day go here 3 pages of pure distilled wisdom on the subject ....

- 66 per cent of Americans support a “poppy for medicine” scheme which would allow farmers to switch their crop away from the production of illegal narcotics, and towards the
production of legal medicines;

- 69 per cent agree that in order for this medicinal scheme to work, there needs to be a trial run in the form of a scientific pilot project;

- 69 per cent of the US public opposes chemical spraying of poppy crops.