Should we end the real war on drugs?

The Afghanistan War. Why has fighting gone on there for so long? Do they have large deposits of gold, diamonds, and oil?  No.

First Russia had troops there, beginning on December 24, 1979 and ending on February 15, 1989. The Soviets called this ten year engagement “the Bear Trap” or "The Soviet Vietnam" and decided they could not win. U.S. troops combined with soldiers from the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Australia entered "The War in Afghanistan" on October 7, 2001, and fighting still persists there to this day. We have passed the ten year mark.

Are the real reasons this rocky place which appears to be a desolate hell hole is being continuously occupied by soldiers because it has the best drugs in the world - opium, cannabis, and hashish? 

We claim we are there fighting terrorists, but in actuality, this is a war on drugs which has escalated and some deemed emboldened the producers of some of the most injurious drugs on the planet. These drugs are not used for the prevention of a disease but are recreational and very damaging when abused.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Afghanistan is the greatest illicit opium producer in the entire world, producing 95% of world's market ($64 billion) in 2008. There were 2.9 million opium farmers reported in Afghanistan that year. Drugs coming from Afghanistan supply Iran, Pakistan, Russia, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union. Opium is the key ingredient in heroin which is highly addictive.

In its 2003 report, “The Opium Economy in Afghanistan: An international problem,” it was stated, “For more than two millennia, Afghanistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations and a major contributor to world culture. In the past quarter century, the country has also found itself at the crossroads of international terrorist violence and became a major contributor to world narcotics production.

“Afghanistan’s opium economy grew as a consequence of the degradation of agricultural and economic infrastructure due to more than twenty years of war, the acceptance of opium as a livelihood strategy by many rural households, and the failure of the state… unless the drug problem is solved, there will be no sustainable development for Afghanistan.” (http://www.unodc.org//pdf/publications/afg_opium_economy_www.pdf)

The U.N. also reports that up to 24,000 hectares of cannabis are grown every year in Afghanistan. Hashish is a byproduct of cannabis. Afghanistan also leads the world in hashish production.

Now Afghanistan is the leading cause of military expenditures for the U.S. military. Almost 3000 U.S. soldiers have died during Operation Enduring Freedom. As of March 16, 2012, 15,460 United States soldiers have been wounded in action in Afghanistan, according to the Defense Department. 

Do you think the U.S. should end this war on drugs?

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©2012 Tomi Johnson. All rights reserved.