Poppy Power

This is a bee's leg with the pollen glommed onto it from a mallow plant.

Peasant farmers may, for a time, be bribed or intimidated (the Taliban executes Afghan poppy growers) into cultivating crops other than poppy or coca.

This program was quickly dubbed the Kebabs for Poppy scheme.

He promised to slash poppy production in return for tractors, seed, and other goodies.

The colossal growth in fields sown with opium poppy and multi billion dollar profits.

Impatient, she flew to Quetta to discuss with Mullah Nasim Aukhundzada a poppy substitution program.

Success will also require more funds for reconstruction, development, and alternatives to opium poppy cultivation.

Mullah Aukhundzada became so angry and humiliated when the promised goodies failed to materialize, that he ordered all the former poppy producing areas, as well as surrounding areas, to double poppy production the following year.

The build up of the Afghan army and police has lagged. The poppy crop has grown.

The promise of funds to fight poppy production galvanized the American Embassy in Islamabad into action.

Fighting poppy and or coca production, on the other hand, is an ideal political stance for politicians.

In September, the United Nations Office on Drugs Crime announced that poppy cultivation soared by a record high 60 .

Mullah Aukhundzada was the Amir of a big area of Helmand in Southwest Afghanistan, a major poppy producing area.

What is not amusing is the end result the poppy eradication program achieved the opposite to what was intended.

Indeed, the international community s methods of fighting the insurgency and eradicating poppy crops have actually helped the insurgents gain power.

We know what sort of soil his is, black as poppy seed, but he cannot boast of his harvests either.

Meanwhile, acreage used for poppy and marijuana production has risen, according to the US government, to 6,900 and 8,900 hectares, respectively.

It is easier to vote to spend millions of dollars to eradicate poppy coca production in poor countries than confront addiction at home.

It is, of course, easier to mock the attempts of organizations such as USAID to tackle poppy production than provide a viable solution.

Starving farmers, if unassisted, may return to cultivating a very reliable cash crop the opium poppy, long a staple of the warlord economy.

One exception is the United Kingdom, which has recently pledged to increase its troop numbers in the restive poppy growing province of Helmand.

To see the folly of these endeavors, let me dissect a number of anti poppy schemes undertaken in Afghanistan with which I was connected.

Poppy, like coca, is an ideal cash crop for farmers with small areas of land and few resources. It needs little care and brings a secure income.

Poppy production is soaring, experiments with alternative crops are lagging, and there are not enough forces to provide security for farmers willing to try growing something different.

Recognizing the strong and continuing commitment made by the Transitional Administration of Afghanistan at the institutional, legal and administrative levels to eliminate opium poppy cultivation by 2013,

Or you can take a poppy field and dig a large pond, fill it with fish, plant trees around it, buy some ducks and have your children watch them.

That, at least, was the idea behind a United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded poppy eradication program in Afghanistan. As in Colombia, however, the results were fleeting.

Another bitter irony was that, in areas that received assistance, neighboring farmers who cultivated food crops soon switched to cultivating poppy because then, too, could then qualify for aid.

These NGOs, who flourished during the fight against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, had seen their funding dry up after Russia s withdrawal, so funds for fighting poppy seemed a gift from heaven.

In fact, the eradication of poppy crops not only damage local communities and undermines the international community s goals, but it is also failing opium production last year was at an all time high.

26. Notes with interest in this regard the decree issued by the Taliban in July 2000 imposing a total ban on opium poppy cultivation, and calls upon the Taliban to implement fully this decree

A serious effort to contain them and stamp them out requires an effective campaign in Helmand Province, North and South Waziristan, and the troubled areas between the poppy fields of Afghanistan and the madrasas of Pakistan.

10. Welcomes the efforts of the Transitional Authority to respect fully the international obligations of Afghanistan with regard to narcotic drugs, and calls upon it to strengthen further its efforts to eradicate the annual poppy crop

At the London Conference, world leaders should support the counter narcotics strategy recently approved by the Afghan government, which would reduce economic dependence on opium production, punish traffickers and dealers, and provide sustainable economic alternatives for poppy farmers.

The three Ahn sisters breathe new life into the piano trio with their passionate musicmaking. At TEDWomen, they start with the bright and poppy Skylife, by David Balakrishnan, then play a gorgeous, slinky version of Oblivion, by Astor Piazzolla.

2. Expresses its support for the efforts of Member States aimed at strengthening regional cooperation in order to counter the threat to the international community posed by the illicit cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan and its illicit trade

It is difficult to see how NATO can succeed in stabilizing Afghanistan unless it is willing to commit more troops and give commanders more flexibility. Success will also require more funds for reconstruction, development, and alternatives to opium poppy cultivation.

In another instance a dashing young Afghan, who convinced the program s administrators that his uncle (in reality a nonentity) represented many growers whom he could persuade to stop cultivating poppy, walked away with one hundred thousand dollars worth of aid.

But when the pond dries up or the substitute crop or job fails, so long as there are rich drug users in the West, they will return to cultivating poppy or coca if it provides a livelihood for their families.

It would also provide Afghan peasants, who have been growing poppy despite forced eradication of the plant and incentives to change crops, with an option that is regulated by law and that, in time, could have an impact on the heroin trade.

A system in which poppy is cultivated under license for the production of pain killing medicines such as morphine and codeine would allow farmers to pursue their traditional livelihood and way of life, and, more importantly, to feed themselves and their families.

Because of the serious threat that the illegal drug economy poses to stability and democracy in Afghanistan, we must start thinking in terms of regulated poppy growing for medical purposes, in particular for painkillers, with the active participation of donor countries and the UN itself.

Public support for Europe s engagement has been plummeting, and most EU governments have failed to act on NATO s request to boost troop levels. One exception is the United Kingdom, which has recently pledged to increase its troop numbers in the restive poppy growing province of Helmand.

My preferences are 'dropkick' (a sports term that rhymes with 'prick' and is used to mean the same) and 'dickhead'. In addition to the media's favourite 'bogan' (an uncultured and unsophisticated person), there are heaps of terms for people with shades of meaning, such as 'dag' (a nerd), 'hoon' (a lout) and 'tall poppy' (a prominent or successful person). A 'stunned mullet' (dazed expression) is a visual delight.