The Bush regime made sure that Afghanistan returned to its
former status as the world's leading producer of heroin after
its invasion. The Taliban had pretty much erradicated poppy
production by 2001, but by the end of 2002, it was back at
record levels. Scum bags thrive on illicit drug money....
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.p...articleId=3294
Who benefits from the Afghan
Opium Trade?
by Michel Chossudovsky
September 21, 2006
GlobalResearch.ca
The United Nations has announced that opium poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan has soared and is expected to increase by 59% in 2006. The
production of opium is estimated to have increased by 49% in relation
to 2005.
The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. The
Bush administration is said to be committed to curbing the Afghan drug
trade: "The US is the main backer of a huge drive to rid Afghanistan
of opium... "
Yet in a bitter irony, US military presence has served to restore
rather than eradicate the drug trade.
What the reports fail to acknowledge is that the Taliban government
was instrumental in implementing a successful drug eradication
program, with the support and collaboration of the UN.
Implemented in 2000-2001, the Taliban's drug eradication program led
to a 94 percent decline in opium cultivation. In 2001, according to UN
figures, opium production had fallen to 185 tons. Immediately
following the October 2001 US led invasion, production increased
dramatically, regaining its historical levels.
The Vienna based UN Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that the 2006
harvest will be of the order of 6,100 tonnes, 33 times its production
levels in 2001 under the Taliban government (3200 % increase in 5
years).
Cultivation in 2006 reached a record 165,000 hectares compared with
104,000 in 2005 and 7,606 in 2001 under the Taliban (See table below).
Multibillion dollar trade
According to the UN, Afghanistan supplies in 2006 some 92 percent of
the world's supply of opium, which is used to make heroin.
The UN estimates that for 2006, the contribution of the drug trade to
the Afghan economy is of the order of 2.7 billion. What it fails to
mention is the fact that more than 95 percent of the revenues
generated by this lucrative contraband accrues to business syndicates,
organized crime and banking and financial institutions. A very small
percentage accrues to farmers and traders in the producing country.
(See also UNODC, The Opium Economy in Afghanistan,
http://www.unodc.org/pdf/publication...conomy_www.pdf ,
Vienna, 2003, p. 7-8)
"Afghan heroin sells on the international narcotics market for 100
times the price farmers get for their opium right out of the
field".(US State Department quoted by the Voice of America (VOA), 27
February 2004).
Based on wholesale and retail prices in Western markets, the earnings
generated by the Afghan drug trade are colossal. In July 2006, street
prices in Britain for heroin were of the order of Pound Sterling 54,
or $102 a gram.
Narcotics On the Streets of Western Europe
One kilo of opium produces approximately 100 grams of (pure) heroin.
6100 tons of opium allows the production of 1220 tons of heroin with a
50 percent purity ratio.
The average purity of retailed heroin can vary. It is on average 36%.
In Britain, the purity is rarely in excess of 50 percent, while in the
US it can be of the order of 50-60 percent.
Based on the structure of British retail prices for heroin, the total
proceeds of the Afghan heroin trade would be of the order of 124.4
billion dollars, assuming a 50 percent purity ratio. Assuming an
average purity ratio of 36 percent and the average British price, the
cash value of Afghan heroin sales would be of the order of 194.4
billion dollars.
While these figures do not constitute precise estimates, they
nonetheless convey the sheer magnitude of this multibillion dollar
narcotics trade out of Afghanistan. Based on the first figure which
provides a conservative estimate, the cash value of these sales, once
they reach Western retail markets are in excess of 120 billion dollars
a year.
(See also our detailed estimates for 2003 in The Spoils of War:
Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade, by Michel
Chossudovsky, The UNODC estimates the average retail price of heroin
for 2004 to be of the order of $157 per gram, based on the average
purity ratio).
Narcotics: Second to Oil and the Arms Trade
The foregoing estimates are consistent with the UN's assessment
concerning the size and magnitude of the global drug trade.
The Afghan trade in opiates (92 percent of total World production of
opiates) constitutes a large share of the worldwide annual turnover of
narcotics, which was estimated by the United Nations to be of the
order of $400-500 billion.
(Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a Changing World, Technical document No.
4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also United Nations Drug Control
Program, Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999,
E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations, Vienna 1999, p. 49-51, and Richard
Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February
2000).
Based on 2003 figures, drug trafficking constitutes "the third
biggest global commodity in cash terms after oil and the arms trade."
(The Independent, 29 February 2004).
Afghanistan and Colombia are the largest drug producing economies in
the world, which feed a flourishing criminal economy. These countries
are heavily militarized. The drug trade is protected. Amply documented
the CIA has played a central role in the development of both the Latin
American and Asian drug triangles.
The IMF estimated global money laundering to be between 590 billion
and 1.5 trillion dollars a year, representing 2-5 percent of global
GDP. (Asian Banker, 15 August 2003). A large share of global money
laundering as estimated by the IMF is linked to the trade in narcotics.
Legal Business and Illicit Trade are Intertwined
There are powerful business and financial interests behind narcotics.
From this standpoint, geopolitical and military control over the drug
routes is as strategic as oil and oil pipelines.
Moreover, the above figures including those on money laundering,
confirm that the bulk of the revenues associated with the global trade
in narcotics are not appropriated by terrorist groups and warlords, as
suggested by the UNODC report. In the case of Afghanistan, the UN
Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that a mere 2.7 billion accrues
as revenue within Afghanistan. According to the US State department
"Afghanistan drug profits support the Taliban and their terrorism
efforts against the United States, its allies and the Afghan
government." (statement, the House Appropriations foreign operations,
export financing and related programs subcommittee. September 12, 2006)
However, what distinguishes narcotics from legal commodity trade is
that narcotics constitutes a major source of wealth formation not only
for organized crime but also for the US intelligence apparatus, which
increasingly constitutes a powerful actor in the spheres of finance
and banking. This relationship has been documented by several studies
including the writings of Alfred McCoy. (Drug Fallout: the CIA's Forty
Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade. The Progressive, 1 August 1997).
In other words, intelligence agencies, powerful business, drug traders
and organized crime are competing for the strategic control over the
heroin routes. A large share of this multi-billion dollar revenues of
narcotics are deposited in the Western banking system. Most of the
large international banks together with their affiliates in the
offshore banking havens launder large amounts of narco-dollars.
This trade can only prosper if the main actors involved in narcotics
have "political friends in high places." Legal and illegal
undertakings are increasingly intertwined, the dividing line between
"businesspeople" and criminals is blurred. In turn, the relationship
among criminals, politicians and members of the intelligence
establishment has tainted the structures of the state and the role of
its institutions including the Military.
--
http://911research.wtc7.net http://www.st911.org
Here's what happens to steel framed buildings exposed
to raging infernos for hours on end.
http://davesweb.cnchost.com/nwsltr69c.html
On 9-11-01, WTC7, a 47 story steel framed building, which
had only small, random fires, dropped in perfect symmetry
at near free fall speed as in a perfectly executed controlled
demolition.
http://911research.wtc7.net/talks/wtc/videos.html http://www.physics.byu.edu/research/energy/htm7.html http://wtc7.net/articles/FEMA/WTC_ch5.htm
"You're doin' a heckuva job, Brownie!" - bu$h, a few days
before his FEMA chief, Micheal Brown was forced to resign
because of his gross incompetence.
"The tools that enable Cuba to save lives and preserve
human dignity during hurricanes are socialist values
and organization." - Dr. W.T. Whitney Jr
Ever wonder who benefits from the 300 MILLION
U.S. taxpayer dollars spent each DAY in Iraq?
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0223-08.htm http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=21
"They are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And
there is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to
take... men with blind hatred and armed with lethal weapons
who are capable of any atrocity... they respect no laws of
warfare or morality."
-bu$h describing his own illegal invasion of Iraq.
http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm http://www.commondreams.org/ http://www.truthout.org/ http://www.prohibitioncosts.org/ http://thirdworldtraveler.com/ http://counterpunch.org/ http://responsiblewealth.org/
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things
that matter." -- Martin Luther King Jr.
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is
not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (1918)
Don't let bu$h do to the United States what his very close
friend and top campaign contributor, Ken Lay, did to Enron...
Re: War on Drugs? 
Linear Mode
