The Taliban and Opium A Deadly Combination

A brief history. Opium has been grown since 3400 B.C. The Taliban was not the first to use Opium to control a region. In 1829 Great Britain began smuggling opium into China. Addiction to opium soon became commonplace. The Chinese economy was crippled for years while the British thrived.

Who would grow opium... Experienced poppy farmers traveled Afghanistan to teach their trade. For this reason Afghanistan was the biggest opium producer in the world. In an acre of opium was worth about $5,200, an acre of wheat was $121 For a farmer with a family growing opium is the only way to survive.

The Taliban’ opium ban The Taliban banned the growing of opium in They enforced this ban by burning heroine labs and arresting farmers. According to a UN survey last year there were 12,600 acres of opium, this year there were AAAAAEBw/fMK-wbVjn5U/s320/opium_poppy.jpg

Why they banned opium The world Demand for opium is about 4,000 tons a year. In the past few year Opium production has far exceeded the world demand To avert a complete price collapse they significantly reduced production.

Did they stockpile it? The UN estimates that there is about 12,000 tons of opium stored underground This is about a two year supply. In addition many people may have personal stockpiles for personal savings. LIVE_p0408_08a12poppy.embedded.prod_affiliate.11.jpg

Drug Warriors The Taliban has it’s P.O.W.s smoke opium. Soldiers report that Opium addiction controls them better than any prison. The Taliban then force these “drug warriors” to fight for them. The opium also acts as a painkiller, and makes these soldiers feel invincible. g

What opium addiction does. A user will feel a high greater than any the body can naturally produce. They feel invulnerable, they hardly feel any pain, and someone using opium may not know they’ve been shot. It works by blocking the brains ability to re-absorb pleasure producing endorphins. The more you take, the more you need to get high. Quitting is extremely difficult, since an x-user has little or no ability to feel any form of pleasure other then opium.

How to stop it Opium is a driving force in Afghanistan’s economy, it is like oil in America. Simply poisoning poppy fields will only drive up the price of opium and starve the farmers. One idea brought up by Kraeutler and Costa is to slow down the distribution and transportation of opium, so the price doesn’t rise. Also legitimate crops must be more valuable for them to be an alternative to opium.

Stopping the Taliban The UN estimates that the Taliban makes about 300 million dollars with the opium trade. Opium is one of the Taliban's largest source of funds, if we remove it, they won’t be able to fund their war efforts as well. I believe that removing the opium trade will cause the Taliban to collapse. Afghanistan can only be a prosperous nation after it looses it’s addiction to opium.