Pubdate: Tue, 09 Jan 2007 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2007 Southam Inc. Contact: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: George Kosinski OPIUM POPPIES ARE NOT THE PROBLEM Re: Don't Encourage Poppy Production In Afghanistan, letter to the editor, Jan. 8. Bert Tatham's letter reminds me of Joni Mitchell's song Dreamland. The result of almost 40 years of coca-eradication programs in South America is that cocaine is more plentiful there than it has ever been. The vain attempt to destroy what nature has provided has resulted in profoundly negative effects in coca-producing countries and abroad: massive violence on all sides triggered by cocaine prohibition, and massive damage to the environment and the health of entire communities caused by the poisons used in this attempted eradication. We can, most likely, be confident that President Hamid Karzai's assessment is no more reliable than the various assessments of the U.S. president who engineered his installation. The reality is that endless occupation by foreign countries -- not the poppy -- "represents the single greatest challenge to the long-term security, development and effective governance of Afghanistan." The continuing prohibition of poppy production seems to offer the primary source of power and financial resources for the numerous warlords whose existence is, ironically, one of the excuses used to justify this endless interference. George Kosinski, Gibsons, B.C. - --- MAP posted-by: Elaine