Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2001
Source: San Francisco Examiner (CA)
Copyright: 2001 San Francisco Examiner
Contact:  http://www.mapinc.org/media/389
Website: http://www.examiner.com/
Author: Adam Wiggins
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1941/a05.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

HEROIN NOT AFGHANS' FAULT

SHAME on you for publishing your editorial on the next wave of Afghan heroin
("Heroin: Taliban's chemical warfare," Examiner view, Nov. 18).

This editorial was not only uninformed, it was practically nonsensical. The
Taliban
"unleashing" new shipments of heroin as chemical warfare? Give me a break.

The vast majority of Afghan opiates go to Europe. The United States' supply
mostly
comes from South American countries.

But more importantly, the production of opiates is not a staged event. It's
an ongoing
attempt by poor farmers in third-world countries to grow a crop that will
feed their
families.

Drug prohibition has created the most lucrative black market in the world.
It's simple
economics that makes these farmers grow opium poppies.

Let's stop pointing the finger elsewhere and instead place the blame where
it belongs:
on ourselves, for creating the demand, and on our government, for limiting
the supply.

Adam Wiggins

Pasadena
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MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk