The AP carried a story today announcing a change in the Obama administration's approach to Afghanistan's opium trade: U.S. announces revamp of Afghan drug policy. U.S. envoy, Richard Holbrooke called the eradication efforts a "waste of money." The new emphasis will be on interdiction efforts and coming up with new crops for the local farmers. Holbrooke's remarks were well received by other nations, apparently. Yet another drug war turns out to be wasteful and stupid.
Since the entire opium crop is worth something in the range of $70 million total, the international community ought to just buy up the whole supply, guaranteeing the local farmers a stable price, then convert that crop into cheap pain medicine that all the nations of the world could purchase.
It is cheaper and more humane to buy the crop, and would be a rational, peaceful move in that war zone.
$70 million is next to nothing, a cheap solution, compared to all the expense and grief caused by the now failed program of eradication. Better to peacefully gain the cooperation of the villagers, provide them with a source of income, and disrupt, at least in part, their reliance on unfriendly factions. It's win, win, win, isn't it?
It would be great if we found new crops for the farmers to grow, but haven't they been trying to find new crops for about 5,000 years? Good luck with that. It is a worthy project. How soon will the new crops put coin in the hands of those villagers?
Buying the opium crop would also make it much harder for the illegal drug trade to get their hands of the valuable opium product. It's a way to interdict drugs that would have the full cooperation of Afghans, I would think.