A Need for Cohesive Counter-Narcotics Policy
[77] Central Asian Republics: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan
[78] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 48 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“UNODC estimates that 25% of all Afghan heroin –or 95 mt- are trafficked each year from Afghanistan into the Central Asian Republics (CARs) towards the Russian Federation.”) (citing U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium (United Nations Publications 2009)
[79] See, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 50 (United Nations Publications 2009)
[80] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 51 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“The remainder, approximately 75-80 mt of heroin, enters the Russian Federation. Some 70 mt is
annually consumed by heroin users in the Russian Federation and an average of 3 mt of heroin is seized annually. This leaves an estimated 4 mt of heroin to exit into Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries and the Nordic countries.”)
[81] STRATFOR Global Intelligence, Afghanistan: Global Trade for Illicit Opiates 2 (March 29, 2010)
(“Over the past 20 years, Russia has gone from being a trans-shipment route for heroin to a major consumer of heroin, the second largest market in th world behind Europe.”)
[82] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 52 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“In terms of absolute numbers, the Russian Federation is particularly affected with its 1.5 million addict population.”); See Also, Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], UNAIDS Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2010 38 (Claiming that Russia has 1.8 million people who inject drugs).
[83] STRATFOR Global Intelligence, Afghanistan: Global Trade for Illicit Opiates 7 (March 29, 2010)
[84] See FN. 57 above.
[85] Central Asian countries: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.
[86] See, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 52-53 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“A local market of 282,000 heroin users, consuming approximately 11 mt of heroin annually. In the CARs, nearly 15 years of continuous heroin transit has created) See Also, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 50 (United Nations Publications 2009) (“While Central Asian (CA) countries are the main trafficking route for Afghan heroin into the Russian Federation, they also have growing domestic markets. Around 12 tons of heroin is estimated to be consumed by 280,000 heroin users in CA countries annually.”); Also, it can be inferred from the exportation of precursor chemicals from the Russian Federation that these chemicals are trafficked through Central Asian countries to Afghanistan.
[87] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 48 (United Nations Publications 2010)
[88] Id.
[89] See FN 57 Above.
[90] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 44-45 (United Nations Publications 2009)
[91] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 20 (United Nations Publications 2010)
[92] (FN: an estimated 2.2 million users p. 44 insurgency)
[93] See, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 22 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“About 11 mt of Afghan heroin trafficked through Pakistan is shipped to China … ”); See Also, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 44-45 (United Nations Publications 2009) (“Most heroin in China, however, continues to be produced in and trafficked from Myanmar and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic … [for which] 70 per cent of the heroin seized in China comes from Myanmar. It appears that the remainder, some 25 per cent, may be sourced in Afghanistan.”)
[94] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 44 (United Nations Publications 2009) (“According to seizure data from Australia, half of the heroin consumed in Australia is shipped from China (around one ton).”)
[95] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 43-44 (United Nations Publications 2010)
[96] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 58 (United Nations Publications 2009) (“Before 2002, Myanmar and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic were the man heroin suppliers for markets in China, India and other coutnries in South, East and SouthEast Asia, and Oceania.”)
[97] See, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2008 World Drug Report (United Nations Publications 2008)
[98] Id. (China alone had an estimated 25 million opium addicts. Something not seen by any other country to date.)
[99] Id. at 217 (“The HIV virus and Hepatitis C were both identified in the 1980s, after the 1961 and 1971 Conventions were drawn up and came into effect.”)
[100] Id.
[101] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 46 (United Nations Publications 2010) (An estimated 1,100 mt of Afghan opium is exported “annually to its immediate neighbors (the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asia) and further to a global market of some 4 million opium consumers – most of which are in Asia.”) (Citing U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], Addiction, Crime, and Insurgency: The Transnational Threat of Afghan Opium, 11 (United Nations Publications 2009) (Global opium consumption 1,100 in 2008: Iran: 42% (450 tons); Europe (except Russia and Turkey) 9% (95 tons); Other 9% (90 tons); S & SE Asia 8% (75 tons); Pakistan 7% (80tons); India 6% (67 tons); Africa 6% (60 tons); Russian Federation 5% (58 tons); and Myanmar 1% (7 tons). Also, Afghanistan keeps around 7% (80 tons) for itself)).
[102] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2008 World Drug Report 214, Fig. 27 (United Nations Publications 2008)
[103]Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], UNAIDS Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2010 38 (2010) (“In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of people living with HIV has almost tripled since 2000 and reached an estimated total of 1.4 million [1.3 million–1.6 million] in 2009 compared with 760 000 [670 000–890 000] in 2001 (Table 2.5 and Figure 2.13). A rapid rise in HIV infections among people who inject drugs at the turn of the century caused the epidemic in this region to surge.”)
[104] See, Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], UNAIDS Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2010 38 (2010); See Also, U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 52 (United Nations Publications 2010) (“To date, there are over a quarter of a million registered HIV cases (although the number of unregistered cases is estimated to be much higher than this) in the Russian Federation. Of
these, over 80% are intravenous drug users.”)
[105] Joint U.N. Programme on HIV/AIDS [UNAIDS], UNAIDS Report on the Global Aids Epidemic 2010 38 (2010)
[106] U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime [UNODC], 2010 World Drug Report 53 (United Nations Publications 2010) (Citing FN 57 and 58)
Alternatively, you could take secret drugs lords like the CIA out of the picture by legalising and regulating the drugs trade. But why go for simple, logical solutions when you can undermine the world though an interconnected network of drugs, oil and weapons trade?
Not that simple. To license Afghanistan for the licit manufacture of opiate pharmaceuticals, or at least the licit cultivation of poppy for other countries to manufacture those pharmaceuticals, two things would need to be done. As of now the cultivation, manufacture, export, and import of licit opiates is regulated by the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). Afghanistan would first have to show that there is a demand for licit opiates, and second, that it could supply that demand without creating an oversupply of licit opiates. The point being, the INCB wants to make sure the medical field is supplied, but does not want an oversupply to leak into the illicit field.
Today, the INCB does not find a need for licit opiates, and instead finds an oversupply of licit opiates. Furthermore, the leading importer of licit opiates, the U.S., is contractually obligated to purchase its opiates from seven specific countries. As of now, the main argument involves having Afghanistan gain entrance into that contractual agreement with the U.S., which will not happen. And the counter-argument for that, which is why it will not happen, is that Afghanistan lacks the security for such a business venture.
Although I am stating the facts for you, based on a licit business argument, my next article will focus on Afghanistan being licensed. What should be noted, which is the main point of the above article, is that even if Afghanistan were to be licensed, that temporary fix would not have any long-term negative effect on the actual heroin market as a whole.
Thank you for your comment.
Amen to that Neo.
For further clarification, the way the system works, the United Nations, under the INCB, would have to approve this business venture. Until the correct argument is made, Afghanistan will continue to provide for the illicit market, not the licit market. And, as stated above, even if Afghanistan were to provide for the licit market, do not underestimate the potential of the heroin market to adapt to such tactics. It will, and has. Its ability to maintain profitability keeps it afloat, and such a quick fix will only affect Afghanistan, not the global market as a hole.
*whole.
Seems the sure way to make opium less profitable as a commodity have an oversupply of it. I know corn is not profitable to grow without government subsidies. There would need to be aggressive media on the dangers of heroin and super easy access to treatment along with this strategy. Heroin is not going to be a mainstream drug no matter what, the stories of it’s destructiveness are pretty much out there. A bigger problem by far is prescription opiates.
Treating drug addiction as a social problem rather than a criminal one would effectively destroy the trade.
The U.S. could start by legalizing marijuana. And medicinal marijuana would be a good substitute in many/most cases for prescription opiates. And we could go from there.
Legalizing marijuana I am likely to favor however, there would be massive economic consequences. Mexico’s main oil field is slowing down and cheap corn via NAFTA put many Mexican farmer out of work. The money from pot is a significant part of the economy there. Plus all the small time traffickers and dealers would be out of luck and keep in mind these lucrative jobs keep opening up for new people as law in enforcement takes folks out of the work force.
I fear what commercialization would do to. Industries are already great at getting people to eat loads of sugar, fat and salt and drinking alcohol. Do we really want businesses to be trying to ever increase their sales of pot while denying the real and common side effects of weight gain from increased appetite and lack of motivation? Because I can see that happening.
I don’t really see any down side to legalizing marijuana. Legalizing it in Mexico, as former President Fox just suggested doing, would help eliminate a violent black market and open up legitimate jobs. Weight gain is a dietary and exercise problem, not caused by smoking pot. and I think it’s an absolute myth that smoking pot causes people to lose their motivation. A lot of lazy people smoke pot. Pot doesn’t make them that way.
Hi Liana
This is wonderfully written.
May I suggest you research the false war on drugs when it was decided
that the CIA would let this be taken over by the new agency called DEA?
Many agents were called in 24 hours to halt their operations.
Then research the so-called drug lord Khun Sa, who was the Golden Triangle
connection. Living larger than life in the Shan mountains with three goverment’s protection. Burma Thailand and USA.
When The DEA put the heat on Burma to start the eradication of the poppy.
They did so reluctantly. There was a promise of assistance, which never came
good agents being sent back to the states, and keeping the Burmese at bay
by carrot and stick threats. While most poppy was being eradicated in accord with the USA wishes, Along comes 9-11 the mother of all wishes to come true.
Now America could get the prices up to snuff and that road from the fields to the cities back to higher yield and profits. With gangsters and drug dealers
as elected officials, and the brother of Afghan president, appointed by the USA
as a bank thief, the new world order of drugs came into play.
While American men and woman died in Afghanistan protecting what?
The career of lawyers who keep the wheel greased in drug cases in courts
through out the USA, and the public companies were building more prisons
to feed small town America’s economy, from the kids dealing on the streets
of inner cities. We were told that the poor Muslim people did not know how
to farm food? Look this is the industrial jobs complex.
First profits are from sales., then there is the Rockerfeller, lead, Methadone
program for addicts, then the 25 years to life sentences for courts and prisons
and the broken families left behind. Prisons get built. farmers sell meat
guards are hired, and you keep the wheel going. Lawyers and courts
make the wheel go round too So there will never be an honest discussion
nor termination of drug in or out of America. By us being in Afghaniland
we have allowed the poppy to yields of 4000% Its a business on one side
its the defense contract, on the other its purported to be assisting in freedom
for the poor people of Afghanistan
Peter Dale Scott’s “American War Machine” is an excellent resource on these matters.
It’s difficult to exercise any control on the narcotics trade when those doing the controlling wear both the “black” and “white” hats. They’ve set this up like they’ve set up US elections: no matter which way you vote, we’ll be led to the same sorry place: the paths look different but the Destination is the same. Speaking of, someone at FPJ may want to take a gander at the Director of National Intelligence’s Destination 2025 papers. It’s the roadmap for our future: global governance.