Cheaper to buy the Afghan Opium Crop?

[kandrathe]

So again, I'll repeat, any American politician going soft on the drug issue is committing political suicide because of the large amount of the population who considers themselves religious.

I would say that drug and alcohol use is a moral issue that stands outside of religion. It happens that most of those who are strongly religious, and vocal about it stand on one side of that issue. According to a survey by Ellison Research 65% of Americans believe that hard drugs are "sinful", while only 41% believe that smoking pot or getting drunk to be sinful. And, interestingly enough, only 35% believe that "not taking care of your body" is sinful. Only 14% thought that drinking any amount of alcohol was sinful.

Ok, now about "politicians". I think they choose to go with the flow to maximize their constituency. They rarely have the courage to talk plainly to "the people", and the elitist jerks usually assume voters are all dumb as posts.

Of course, what I'm talking about here is not having the US government distribute heroin for recreational use. I'm trying to figure out a way for the Afghan farmer to make some money on their crops while the UN figures out how to help them replant their fig trees. Even if we bought it and burned it, this would be better than going around destroying the crops that people are depending on to provide an income for their families.

BTW, even in Afghanistan, it is considered sinful (Haram) to cultivate Opium. In fact, Opium is banned under the Afghan constitution, the government opposes any form of legalisation, and even the Mullah's are angered at anyone suggesting to build it up as a cottage industry. Nevertheless, Afghanistan has the biggest Opium crop ever.