Afghanistan Rejects Legal Poppy Cultivation

KABUL - Sep 28/05 - IRIN -- The Afghan government has rejected a call to legalize poppy cultivation in the country, following a recent report advocating for its legitimate production.

"Poor security in the country means there are simply no guarantees that opium won't be smuggled out of the country for the illicit narcotics trade abroad," Afghan Minister for Counter Narcotics, Habibullah Qaderi, said in the Afghan capital, Kabul.

"Without an effective control mechanism, a lot of opium would still be refined into heroin for illicit markets in the West and elsewhere," he claimed.

His comments follow Monday's report by the Senlis Council, a leading international drug policy think-tank, advocating for the legal cultivation of opium poppy in the Central Asian state.

According to the Paris-based group, the opium would be used to produce essential medicines such as morphine and codeine which could help millions of people in developing countries who are unnecessarily dying in pain because they don't have access to such medicines.

Moreover, the study concluded that such a plan would contribute to ending the Afghan drug crisis and help bring stability to the country. Licensing would move poppy crops away from the illegal drug trade and into the legal economy, a statement by the group said.

"It's a case of turning something bad into something good," executive director of the group, Emmanuel Reinert, said. "The current drug policy in Afghanistan has completely failed to control opium production and has undermined development efforts."

But according to Qaderi, this is a proposal whose time has not yet come.

"The report issued today [Monday] is just a study which will take more time to complete. It will not be possible meanwhile to cultivate any opium poppy legally," the government official reiterated.

Lack of an adequate control system remains the main argument against legalization of opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan. Additionally, the legalization debate could stir confusion and raise false expectations, which could be particularly detrimental for the development of drug control in Afghanistan at this point in time, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned.

Afghanistan produces about 87% of the world's opium, most of which is smuggled to Europe, making it an integral part of the fledgling state's economy. The illegal export of opium makes up about half of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), with illegal opium estimated to be worth more than US $100 a kilogram.

Under current international law, countries are free, however, to apply for a licence from the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to legally produce and sell opium for medical purposes. Many countries, including Australia, France, Turkey and India, already do.

The estimated average annual income per poppy farmer in Afghanistan in 2003 was $3,900. In 2004, due to a fall in opium prices at farm levels, farmers earned about $1,700 that year. The average field size per farmer in Afghanistan is estimated at about 0.4 ha.

Meanwhile, Reinert defended the potential role of opium. "Opium licensing is a road-map to stability," he said, warning that the current policy of eradicating poppy crops, on which many farmers survive, threatens Afghanistan's future peace and democracy after over two decades of conflict.

"Eradication is counterproductive because it takes away farmers' livelihoods without replacing them. Ultimately, they will lose faith in their government and would create the same situation that allowed the Taliban to take control in the past."

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2005

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Copyright (c) 2005 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs