CIAO DATE: 05/2013
April 2013
United States Institute of Peace
A variety of factors point toward increasing opium poppy cultivation and especially rising opium and heroin production in Afghanistan over the next several years. The international community needs to be prepared for such trends, resist the temptation to seek simplistic and one-dimensional solutions, and avoid major policy blunders that would make the situation worse. Neither aerial spraying nor licensing of opium cultivation for medicinal purposes will work. On the contrary, either of these extreme opposite approaches would be counterproductive and damaging.
Resource link: Afghanistan and the International Drug Control Regime: Can the "Tail" Wag the "Dog"? [PDF]