Pubdate: Mon, 12 May 2008 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2008 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Note: Does not publish letters from outside its circulation area. Author: Ron Dale POPPIES AREN'T PROBLEM, POLICY IS Re "Why's opium rife in Afghanistan?" letter, May 5: What the author does not understand is that the poppies in Afghanistan are grown by poor farmers and not by drug lords. These farmers are mostly simple people who are just trying to make enough money to feed their families. Yes, they do sell their poppies to drug lords and I agree this is big problem. But the long-term solution is not to go in and simply destroy their crops. Imagine how you would feel if a foreign power destroyed your livelihood and left your family destitute. Destroying their crops will either convert them to terrorism or make them allies of the terrorist. We want to make them our allies. We need to explain that using poppies is very bad in our culture, like using alcohol is in their culture. We need to work with them to change their poppy-based economy into some other profitable crop system where poppies are outlawed, even if we have to provide price supports. Developing mutual respect will help us win the war on terror. Making new enemies to get rid of existing enemies will not make us safer, and it won't be cheaper. - - Ron Dale, Folsom - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom