Pubdate: Thu, 29 Jun 2006
Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB)
Copyright: 2006, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/EdmontonSun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135
Author: Michelle Mark, Edmonton Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

MINEFIELD OF POPPIES

Canada's Delicate Dance In Afghanistan

While Canada's prime minister is committed to eradicating the opium 
industry in Afghanistan, the soldiers charged with the job are still 
trying to figure out how to do it without causing a bloodbath of 
innocent lives.

"Narcotics are the curse of Afghanistan," said Lt.-Gen. Andrew 
Leslie, the head of Canada's army. "It's a hugely complicated problem 
and I don't have a solution right now."

After serving in Afghanistan in 2003 and seeing the drug activity 
first-hand, Leslie said villagers are forced to grow poppies under 
the threat of death from warlords.

Opium is used in the manufacture of heroin.

"If you don't produce that cash crop, they'll come and kill you or 
they'll kill your daughter," he said yesterday at the Edmonton Garrison.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday that Canada is working 
to eliminate the threat of terrorism, but also wants to eliminate 
drug trafficking which is causing problems in our own streets.

"For that reason we support the efforts of the international 
community to eradicate drug production," Harper said.

"Of course, we're not directly involved in the eradication of the 
growing of poppies, but we do support those efforts and we support 
the efforts of providing alternatives to people."

A report released yesterday by the British-based Senlis Council, a 
drug policy think-tank, said Canadian troops and Afghan civilians are 
paying with their lives because of failing U.S. policies that focus 
on elimination of the poppy crop.

"Canadian troops have been handed an impossible mission which can 
only lead to significant casualties," says the report.

"Until Canada fundamentally re-evaluates its approach and creates its 
own new strategy for its presence in Kandahar, with a clear split 
from the failed U.S. policies there, the Canadian mission in 
Afghanistan is blindly following a path that will lead to senseless 
military and civilian casualties."

While Leslie agreed with the notion of eliminating the drug trade, 
bringing it about will be a very complicated task because it 
endangers the very people the international forces are trying to help.

"I have driven through poppy fields that stretched for 10 kilometres. 
What do you do? Do you get out of your vehicle and start to knock 
down plants one at a time, thereby incurring the wrath of the poor 
peasant who's got a weapon, who has another cash crop with which to 
feed his family? And by the way, if he doesn't produce poppies, the 
warlords will kill him."

Leslie added: "The rule of law is the central tenet of the Canadian 
character and we produce an awful lot of narcotics, and we can't seem 
to stop it. "
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman