Opium Poppies: Exploring the impact of opiates on society

US Considering Bio-Warfare on Poppies

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 09:16:21 -0500

The Drug Policy Alliance has started a letter campaign against a plan currently under consideration in the US Senate that basically amounts to launching a biological warfare attack against countries such as Columbia and Afghanistan.

Mycoherbicides have already been extensively studied over the last thirty years - and the results make it clear that they are not an option for controlling crops of coca or opium poppies. They attack indiscriminately, destroying fruit and vegetable crops, causing open sores and feminization in reptiles and other animals, and sickening humans as well. The toxins mycoherbicides produce contaminate soil for years, so that nothing can grow where they have been. Mycoherbicides are so destructive that governments have even stockpiled them as weapons...

Sounds real pleasant.

Settlement in abusive Goose Creek school raid

Fri, 07 Apr 2006 09:07:34 -0500

DrugWarRant reports that a settlement has been reached in the disgusting Goose Creek high school drug raid fiasco. The students will split a $1.2 million settlement, stemming from a racially suspect "random" drug search of the school with guns drawn and police dogs to ~~terrorize~~ search the students. The video of the raid pretty much speaks for itself.

Getting to the root of the poppy trade

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 19:39:00 -0500

Afghan farmers of poppies find themselves caught between the devil and the deep sea. With poverty rife in the war-torn nation, itâ€™s difficult to resist the lure of easy money from cultivating opium poppies, despite international efforts to curb the poppy trade.

Hat tip: DrugSpot

Somni-Forum Registration Closing April 8

Tue, 04 Apr 2006 08:55:30 -0500

A warm welcome to everyone who joined up during our latest round of open registration at the Papaver Somni-Forum. The open registration period is now coming to a close. The poppies.org forum will re-open to new user accounts some time within the next quarter.

If you haven't signed up for a somni-forum account yet, it's not too late. You still have until the end of April 8th to join in. Registration is free, and allows you to participate in the discussions and maybe make a few friends while you're at it too. :)

Registration at the Papaver Somni-Forum will be closing on April 8th at 11:59pm EST.

U.K. cheated farmers in Afghan poppy scheme

Tue, 28 Mar 2006 07:49:21 -0500

More revelations from The Senlis Council today, with a new report on the wires that the British government has failed to honor its pledge to compensate Afghani poppy farmers for eradicating papaver somniferum crops, causing widespread anger in the volatile region.

Based on interviews with farmers in the Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops will arrive over the coming months, the group claims that U.K. counter-narcotics officers promised local farmers $350 for every fifth of a hectare of opium poppies they destroyed.

'These farmers kept their side of the deal and eradicated their crops, but the British Government did not keep their word,' said Mohammad Gull, a local representative from the Sharwali District in Helmand who was involved in the initial negotiations with the British representatives. 'In our culture this is very dishonorable and we are very angry.'

Former Cambridge Police Chief: Only option left is legalization

Mon, 27 Mar 2006 19:49:10 -0500

You wouldn't trust criminals to be in control of your tap water, something as benign as that, so why do we allow them to control something as dangerous as drugs?

After three years as the top police officer in Cambridgeshire, former chief Tom Lloyd is calling for discussions based around a radical new approach which would take the supply of drugs away from the criminal underworld. He suggests that the drugs trade should be recognised as a hugely profitable business and that efforts should be directed towards undermining that profitability. One approach that should be considered is that drugs, including heroin, should be supplied to desperate users safely and legally by the Government.

US State Department Poppy PR Campain

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:50:14 -0500

Over at DRCNet there's an interesting article about the "Strategic Communications Plan" seeks to specifically target Congress members, religious leaders, state elected officials, think tanks, media outlets, university students and officials, and the business community, both inside and outside the US.

The plan calls for big efforts to ensure that journalists are given every opportunity to figure out and report the official line. It calls for journalists to be escorted on eradication missions, regular bulletins for the press "assuming poppy eradication goes well," and "professionally designed" press kits with fact sheets "that can last for several months."

Wow.

Mainstream picks up on poppy legitimization scheme

Sat, 18 Mar 2006 10:05:12 -0500

Back in February I posted about a viable alternative to erradication in the Afghan opium war -- embracing the opium poppy as a legitimate resource. Parisian security and policy think-tank Senlis Council issued a report on this issue last month that strongly supports this position.

Well, it looks like the idea is finally gaining a bit of momentum in the mainstream press, with articles and commentary appearing in the Toronto Star and on the AFP Wire.

Read the rest of this entry »

British agents begin ploughing over Afghan poppy fields

Sun, 12 Mar 2006 08:12:15 -0500

Using tractors, they started to tear up fields of opium poppies in Helmand province in Afghanistan's "poppy belt". Helmand alone accounts for more than a quarter of the country's poppy cultivation.

The problem for the British and the Afghan authorities is that the opium poppy trade is vital to farmers in the region. Getting the farmers to stop growing the flowers - which thrive in Afghanistan's poor soil and abundant sunshine - could take decades.

The dangers of rapid-detox drug treatment

Sat, 11 Mar 2006 01:18:42 -0500

The Ontario Coroner's Office is investigating a second death connected to a chain of drug treatment clinics that offer a a highly controversial treatment that has divided addiction experts. So-called "rapid detox" treatment uses a cocktail of medications to speed through the withdrawl process while the patient remains under sedation. As part of the procedure, the patient is implanted with a pellet of the opate antagonist Naltrexone to prevent them from having intense cravings or obtaining any "high" from opiates once the treatment is complete.

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Confessions of an american Opium Appreciator

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:58:47 -0500

Whoa. Double Whoa.

Crazy poppy lovin' college kids.

The new colour of the Golden Triangle

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 07:38:54 -0500

With crop densities much lower in Laos and Thailand than in Afghanistan, crop-substitution programs have proved to be far more effective in this area for lowering opium poppy cultivation. Nowadays you're more likely to find small plantations of tea, peach trees and even asparagus springing up in the heart of the "Golden Triangle" than fields of poppies. With Laos declaring itself Poppy-Free in february, this now leaves military-ruled Myanmar (aka Burma) as the single active opium producer in the region.

Breadseed poppies: art, architecture and confusion

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 07:33:10 -0500

The San Francisco Chronical has a fantastic beginners tutorial on growing Breadseed Poppies (aka Opium Poppies) -- but while the article presents lots of useful information, its casual tone highlights the confusion over the legal status of Papaver Somniferum in the USA.

These plants are showstoppers. Passers-by routinely gawk at mine when they're in full bloom, the tallest at their eye level. With their impressive variety, spectacular blooms and strange seed pods, breadseed poppies are one of the easiest ways to add a bit of architecture and a lot of dazzle to your garden.

Let's just hope none of those passers-by are DEA agents. This wishy-washy nomenclature just further serves to cloud the issue and allow for selective persecution by the authorities. After all, these flowers are everywhere -- yet their legal status only ever becomes an issue when troublemakers happen to have a few in their garden.

So go ahead and plant your opium poppy seeds -- as long as you keep your nose clean and call your plants "Breadseed Poppies" you've got yourself a garden showpiece! If only it was that simple.

Read the rest of this entry »

UN: Crop substitution programs ineffective

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:49:21 -0500

A UN report says programs to help farmers in developing countries grow legal crops as a substitute for illegal drugs do not work well enough. Crop substitution programs, carried out mainly in Asia and Latin America to replace drug plantation -- particularly opium poppies and coca leaves -- are largely ineffective. Also highlighted in the report is the increasing presence of illegal online pharmacies. It identified the United States and some countries in Europe as the major markets for the illegal Internet pharmaceuticals.

Afghan Poppy Plan Roundup: Mixed Messages from the Mainstream

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 23:03:56 -0500

It looks like with Dubya's second unnanounced trip to Afghanistan, the mainstream US and UK media has picked up on Harmed Karzai's opium poppy eradication plan.

The messages coming out of the various news outlets are mixed -- so don't step too close or the spin will make you dizzy. ABC News tells us in an in-depth report that Opium production is booming in a "free" Afghanistan. Over at the BBC it's the same story with a completely different interpretation, as the US says Afghan poppy farming down. This is the same congressional report you guys are supposedly working from, so which is it -- boom or bust, success or failure?

The Washington Post tries to keep things as boring as possible with the stats-laden report Afghan drugs trade still a major threat, while the Houston Chronical takes a more pessimistic view with Afghan Opium stymies US efforts. So where does the truth lie? Well why not just read the damn thing for yourself and make up your own mind, because it looks like all the mainstream outlets have to say is just the same-old status quo.

Drug WarRant has some interesting commentary on the south-american stats in the report.