Opioids The middle east and opium cultivation, thoughts?

A lot of these people grow poppies out of necessity - in that they physically can not feed their children growing anything else. There's literally no other means of survival for them. Yet their fields get destroyed leaving them to starve. Obviously the reason for this is the fact that it is the root supplier of the raw ingredient to create the morphine derivatives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hAgVFRF1w skip to 3:33

What are your opinions on this? Are they the criminals? Should they be destroyed (the fields)? Ridding one families entire anual income and means of survival clearly does not stop the influx of morphine derived drugs - so should we even be doing this shit?

Just food for thought - just curious what you guys think!

The only reason that there is such a financial incentive in cultivating "illegal" crops is because of the West's (and anyone who wants any kind of assistance from our governments) drug policies. In turn, the only reason these crops are grown in places like Aghanistan, Burma and Colombia, is because at this current time, it's virtually impossible to police these regions.

If the laws of supply and demand weren't in play, the Afghans would be growing food stuffs for their population and we'd be growing poppies in our respective back yard's. More accurately, the government would be growing it in their "yards" taxing it and selling it to us for profit like alcohol or tobacco. I get that not all of our consumed alcohol or tobacco is produced domestically, but I think it's a fair point nonetheless.

Is this DC material, maybe? I'm an amateur moderator today.

Keif' Richards said:

The only reason that there is such a financial incentive in cultivating "illegal" crops is because of the West's (and anyone who wants any kind of assistance from our governments) drug policies. In turn, the only reason these crops are grown in places like Aghanistan, Burma and Colombia, is because at this current time, it's virtually impossible to police these regions.

If the laws of supply and demand weren't in play, the Afghans would be growing food stuffs for their population and we'd be growing poppies in our respective back yard's. More accurately, the government would be growing it in their "yards" taxing it and selling it to us for profit like alcohol or tobacco. I get that not all of our consumed alcohol or tobacco is produced domestically, but I think it's a fair point nonetheless.

Is this DC material, maybe? I'm an amateur moderator today.

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ridding western demand for opiates wouldnt somehow raise the anual income for growing legal crops. theyd still starve.

also its not just the west - considering pakistan is the worlds #1 country for heroin use.

Also lol i wasnt really sure where to put this thread - but i figured its really not a big deal. its surely not breaking rules, and it IS about 'other drugs' just rather the political and societal aspect rather than the pharmacological / psychoactive

Obviously, they would be growing the foodstuffs to feed themselves? So I don't understand how they would still starve. Am I missing something?

Also, Pakistan is a relatively poor nation. I'd be surprised if heroin were over 1/10the the price it is here in the west as a whole. If Pakistan was the only consumer of heroin there wouldn't be as much money in it for the Afghans. That's fact, not opinion. Have you considered that maybe proximity is playing a role in the saturation of Pakistan?

Also, I'll go out on a limb and say we provide more more global aid than Pakistan does. That's just a wild guess though. Nations poorer than we are inclined to follow our lead. There were drug laws on the books prior to nixon's declaration of war, but in this era the more draconian drug law schemes became dogma and we really start to see the rise in incarceration/punishment.

Also, "Pakistan is the highest country for Heroin use" is dubious. Russia, Iran and the USA are also the "highest countries for heroin use" depending on where you get your news.

Also, the last comment was my failed attempt at humor trying to make fun of how anal the categorization can be. I don't lose sleep over misfiled bluelight threads.

kurups said:

A lot of these people grow poppies out of necessity - in that they physically can not feed their children growing anything else. There's literally no other means of survival for them. Yet their fields get destroyed leaving them to starve. Obviously the reason for this is the fact that it is the root supplier of the raw ingredient to create the morphine derivatives.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5hAgVFRF1w skip to 3:33

What are your opinions on this? Are they the criminals? Should they be destroyed (the fields)? Ridding one families entire anual income and means of survival clearly does not stop the influx of morphine derived drugs - so should we even be doing this shit?

Just food for thought - just curious what you guys think!

Click to expand...

When the U.S. first started leaving we tried to give them supplemental crops like chick peas and other grains. Basically all the fertilizer and everything else from that was diverted and used or sold to help poppy production increase, poppies are also a lot easier to grow than traditional grains. National Geographic has a dated but still relevant article detailing this but I can't remember the name.

Also a lot of opium is also grown and produced in eastern Europe, specifically the Czech Republic and it's surrounding poppy producing nations. The Czech gov insists that the "food grade poppies" are entirely different from "opium poppies" and don't contain enough alkaloids to make controlled substances. Not supported by the fact that at the end of each summer Czech junkies pretty much live at the fields during the harvest period. Most of the dope produced in eastern Europe domestically doesn't make it out of the slavic nations mostly just afghan dope is worth bringing through due to its low lower cost from the source. Or at least this is what I've gathered from one of my Slovakian friends in the scene.

swimmingencouraged said:

When the U.S. first started leaving we tried to give them supplemental crops like chick peas and other grains. Basically all the fertilizer and everything else from that was diverted and used or sold to help poppy production increase, poppies are also a lot easier to grow than traditional grains. National Geographic has a dated but still relevant article detailing this but I can't remember the name.

Also a lot of opium is also grown and produced in eastern Europe, specifically the Czech Republic and it's surrounding poppy producing nations. The Czech gov insists that the "food grade poppies" are entirely different from "opium poppies" and don't contain enough alkaloids to make controlled substances. Not supported by the fact that at the end of each summer Czech junkies pretty much live at the fields during the harvest period. Most of the dope produced in eastern Europe domestically doesn't make it out of the slavic nations mostly just afghan dope is worth bringing through due to its low lower cost from the source. Or at least this is what I've gathered from one of my Slovakian friends in the scene.

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lol yeah that vice episode "heroin holiday" was awesomeeeee. tho that full body 'stinging' or 'needle sensation' or w/e when cooked improperly is a lil concerning.