Cheaper to buy the Afghan Opium Crop?

[Colonel_here]

Hi,

After reading this article I'm agreeing that if would be best if the US/EU just ponied up the money($600 million or so) to buy the crops from the Afghan farmers at a reasonable market price. Easier than hiring Blackwater to destroy good will and fields of poppies. Maybe our pharmaceutical companies can find a legal outlet. I'm not familiar enough with opiate derivatives, like morphine, and their shelf life.

Or, a two pronged carrot/stick approach, build a farm price support system that pays a high price for alternative Afghan crops, and make it widely known that at any time opium poppies will be destroyed if discovered. I mean, that is why most farmers in the southern US do not grow marijuana.

I think the idea was considered however the downside of this approach was the fact that there was no way to get the Afghan farmers from growing opium again and expect the UN to buy it up in the next year.