U.S. Promotes Drug Addiction to 'Assert Its Hegemony'

[unhappycamper]

U.S. Promotes Drug Addiction to 'Assert Its Hegemony'
July 14, 2005
tehrantimes.com

Illegal drugs have affected the entire world. Thus, the entire international community must cooperate in the campaign against the pandemic.

Underlining the need for such cooperation, Ali Hashemi, the director of Iran’s Anti-Drug Headquarters, said that Iran cannot deal with the problem of drug smuggling in the region without the help of other countries.

Iran is a neighbor of Afghanistan, which is currently the center of global poppy cultivation and production. Afghan officials say that studies by the United Nations and Afghanistan’s Anti-Drug Office have shown that poppy cultivation has declined in the Central Asian country, but it is not yet clear to what extent. Should this allay concerns about drug smuggling in the region and the rest of the world?

In 1988, about 350 tons of opium was produced in Afghanistan. By 2004, the figure reached 5000 tons. That is to say, there has been a 14-fold increase in Afghan opium production in less than two decades.

MORE
http://www.watchingamerica.com/tehrantimes000011.html

[bemildred]

1. I suppose it's just out of the question to decriminalize them?

I mean as a way to assert one's independence from US hegemony?