A Drug Policy that Would Stop Sacrificing Afghanistan

I’ve met with some very sharp Afghan policy makers who understand well that the US “war on drugs” has terrible consequences for Afghans, who are victimized by the US DEA and the Afghan government it bullies into suppressing the market, and that it’s buying weapons for the Taliban. I’m hoping to work to prepare a report calling for a special drug regime that would allow Afghan farmers to grow poppies for the legal pharmaceutical market, which would actually increase incomes to farmers (who get a tiny share of the total price of illegal drugs, as most goes to the traffickers who smuggle it out of Afghanistan through Iran, India, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, and then those who ship it to markets in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, not to mention the final dealers), would cut out the profits to the narco-traffickers and terrorist networks, and would undercut the corruption that prohibition brings. It would be a good step toward bring civil peace to a country that has had thirty years of war. They deserve peace, and a change in the policies toward narcotics producers and buyers would be a big step in the right direction.