Pubdate: Tue, 23 Oct 2001
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Copyright: 2001 The Sydney Morning Herald
Contact:  http://www.smh.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/441
Author: Gavin Sinclair
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1789/a07.html

TALIBAN THE WINNER IN WAR ON DRUGS

Seventy per cent of the world's heroin is created from opium that is grown 
in Afghanistan. That country has a stockpile large enough to supply every 
addict in Europe for three years. The Taliban has slashed production in the 
latest season by 95 per cent in a spirit of UN co-operation, but there is 
still the stockpile, and that co-operation is not likely to continue. 
(Source: The Economist, October 20, 2001.)

The point is that, if heroin use were legal, its price would plummet and 
the Taliban's income would be dramatically eroded. The cost of such a 
measure may be an increase in heroin use, which should be seen as an 
individual's right to choose. At least the purity of heroin would be better 
controlled.

Legalisation of heroin would undermine the ability of the Taliban to 
continue an oppressive regime without the support of a productive economy.

Put simply, if America (and other countries) discontinued the "war on 
drugs", the war on terrorism could be a lot more straightforward.

Gavin Sinclair, Glebe, October 22.
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