If they could grow regular crops, the Afghans would, but drugs are the most lucrative. Is growing marijuana instead of poppies an improvement, or just a..."/>

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Marijuana replacing poppies in Afghanistan

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Tuesday, January 19, 2010 17:39
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Saturday, January 16, 2010 6:03 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


If they could grow regular crops, the Afghans would, but drugs are the most lucrative. Is growing marijuana instead of poppies an improvement, or just a change?






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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 6:03 AM

BYTEMITE


Well... I do have some questions about whether the CIA has it's hand in the drugs coming out of Afghanistan...

I'm no pot head, never touched the stuff, and honestly I don't quite see how there isn't issues with particulates, chemicals, and lung damage. You're burning plant material and inhaling smoke.

BUT, it does seem that barring DUI, marijuana is a fairly safe drug, all considering. About as bad as alcohol. Which can be bad, don't get me wrong, but it doesn't remotely compare to the hardcore stuff.

This could also bite the CIA in the ass, if marijuana were ever to be legalized (it's pretty much the only street drug that has any chance of it), so... I'm going to say that maybe this is a good thing.

As an aside, I hear marijuana is actually a pretty good crop for restoring nutrients to the soil, which damn if Afghanistan doesn't need that. Though that could be pro-marijuana propaganda.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:02 AM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


So are they smoking it themselves, selling it to the troops or exporting it? Is it any good? Anybody know where I can get some?

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:13 AM

BYTEMITE


The drug trade is one of Afghanistan's biggest exports. It's mostly the Northern Alliance and various warlord's growing the stuff.

Quote:

Afghanistan is a member of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). It is an impoverished country, one of the world's poorest and least developed. Two-thirds of the population lives on fewer than 2 US dollars a day. Its economy has suffered greatly from the 1979 Soviet invasion and subsequent conflicts, while severe drought added to the nation's difficulties in 1998–2001.[138][139] According to the World Bank, "economic growth has been strong and has generated better livelihoods" since 2001.[140]

The economically active population in 2002 was about 11 million (out of a total of an estimated 29 million). As of 2005, the official unemployment rate is at 40%.[141] The number of non-skilled young people is estimated at 3 million, which is likely to increase by some 300,000 per annum.

The nation's economy began to improve since 2002 due to the infusion of multi-billion US dollars in international assistance and investments, as well as remittances from expats.[143] It is also due to dramatic improvements in agricultural production and the end of a four-year drought in most of the country.

The real value of non-drug GDP increased by 29% in 2002, 16% in 2003, 8% in 2004 and 14% in 2005.[144] As much as one-third of Afghanistan's GDP comes from growing poppy and illicit drugs including opium and its two derivatives, morphine and heroin, as well as hashish production.[1] Opium production in Afghanistan has soared to a new record in 2007, with an increase on last year of more than a third, the United Nations has said.[145] Some 3.3 million Afghans are now involved in producing opium.[146] In a recent article in the Washington Quarterly, Peter van Ham and Jorrit Kamminga argue that the international community should establish a pilot project and investigate a licensing scheme to start the production of medicines such as morphine and codeine from poppy crops to help it escape the economic dependence on opium. ~Wikipedia



Pretty sure if they have the money, culturally they're probably more into hookah tobacco.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 7:42 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


They've always grown dope in Afghanistan, that much I do know. I BELIEVE the advent of poppy crops was a more recent thing. The difference is, they make hash out of it...marijuana is considered the "poor man's hashish" in a lot of the world...or was back then. Dunno about now.

By "back then", I mean my hippie days, not when I lived there. I laughed a lot when I started smoking to realize I'd lived right there in the middle of it and never knew...having been too young to know about stuff like that!

They smoke hash, and probably export it, tho' getting it from there to America wouldn't pay, I should think, added to the danger. Probably the Mideast and Europe, if anything.

Back "then", there was a hash that came from Afghanistan known as "Afghan Black"...it actually had a tiny gold seal on it! It was paper thin and came in little squares. I smoked it, so I know that's not urban legend...but it was very expensive. What I think WAS urban legend was that the seal was that of the Shah...tho' it's certainly possible.

From my experience, hookahs were tobacco, tho' they certainly were used for hash as well. But not for marijuana...anyone smoking plain dope would probably be laughed at over there; mostly they didn't consider it even usable, back then.

I would love to see more hash production and less of the hard stuff, it would be at least a small step forward. And oh, Byte, you KNOW the CIA and others from the US are involved...didn't we have someone put up a thread (probably Frem or DT) about the various cuts the farmer had to endure, like some to the warlords, some to the drug cartels, some to the US? I'll have to look it up again, it was pretty right on.

As the guy on the video said, if they could grow other crops and make a living, they'd do so, poppy and marijuana cultivation used to be NOTHING like it is now, but they've been "bombed back to the stone age" (as some asshole suggested we do back when we invaded), so survival comes first.

The difference between smoking dope and smoking cigarettes is that it takes very little to get stoned, so you inhale tons less than you do with cigs. Plus it's without all the pesticides and crap cigs have. I don't say it's a good or bad thing; I took it up because booze and I don't get along at ALL, and I was in college so it was nice to find an alternative I could use at parties. Plus I have a "thing" about booze, having lived through my brother-in-law's alcoholism for years when he lived with us.

Thing is, if you smoke it for long enough, it only takes a couple of puffs to get you stoned...it's a psychological thing and the brain kicks you into high gear with very, very little. Not that most people don't keep on smoking past what they need, the social aspect is the same as booze. I now only need a hit or two in the evening (legally medicinally) as my "evening cocktail" to mellow out before bed, and I haven't had any for months, 'cuz here in CA they instituted a cute thing; we have to pay a big fee to get our "official okey-dokey" which allows us to buy it. They've found a good way to get more money out of us.

I hear the Govenator is considering legalizing it, about which I'm of two minds. NO drug is good for one, but man's sought escapism since the dawn of time, so I consider it better than booze, in part for that reason. JMHO.



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 8:20 AM

JONGSSTRAW


No drugs are good, but poppy/heroin is one of the worst. Marijuana/hashish is much better, unless you're on a diet.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 8:20 AM

JONGSSTRAW


MEXICO

by Grace Slick

Owsley and Charlie, twins of the trade,
Come to the Poet's Room
Talking about the problems of a leaf,
And yes, it'll be back soon

There used to be tons of gold and green
Comin' up here from Mexico
A donde esta la planta, mi amigo, del sol?

But Mexico is under the thumb
Of a man we call Richard
And he's come to call himself king
But he's a small-headed man
And he doesn't know a thing
About how to deal for you

How to deal for you
There are millions of you now
I mean it's not as if you were alone
There are brothers everywhere
Just waiting for a toke on that gold
And God knows how far it can go

You're famous Uncle Charlie
For your Mexican smoke
You're a legend Owsley
For your righteous dope

There were a half a million people on the lawn
And we sang to their faces in the dawn
How long will that young race
Wait for the jailer's time to end?
How long will the Panther race
Wait for the iron bars to bend?
And no no no no no nobody waits



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 9:47 AM

GINOBIFFARONI


Also... I was going to post this in the thread about Afghanistan polling... but it appears to be gone


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8466915.stm


UN Afghanistan survey points to huge scale of bribery
Afghan women and child on a Kabul street, January 2010


Afghans paid $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in bribes over the past 12 months, or the equivalent of almost one quarter of legitimate GDP, a UN report suggests.

Surveying 7,600 people, it found nearly 60% more concerned about corruption than insecurity or unemployment.

More than half the population had to pay at least one bribe to a public official last year, the report adds.

The findings contrast sharply with a recent BBC survey in which the economy appeared to top Afghan concerns

continues


love how BBC says their own poll was full of it



Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:07 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


"Bakshish" has been a way of life in Afghanistan since time imemorial. It will be interesting to see if anyone, anywhere, anytime, can get rid of it...or even lessen it.



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:39 AM

BYTEMITE


If it's part of their culture, why do the polls say they're concerned about bribes?

I think you've got a point Niki, about polling Afghans, they seem remarkably astute at figuring out what answer is wanted and giving it.

Perhaps what we're looking at is a difference of concerns with the poll givers. Perhaps the UN is concerned about bribery and corruption, and the BBC wants to highlight the economic woes. And the Afghans are like, both hit me in my pocket, ask me if I'm worried most about the economy and I'll say yes, ask me if I'm worried most about corruption and I'll say yes again.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:44 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


I agree, Byte. But one thing you're forgetting; just 'cuz bribery has always been part of their culture doesn't mean they wouldn't like to get rid of it! It's the guy on the street who always ends up PAYING the bribes, and guess who they probably polled? Ask the politicians, anyone in the government or who has power of any kind if THEIR worst worry is bribery, betcha you get a different answer!

But yeah, as to how they answer polls, I'd bet it depends on who's doing the asking and why. It was funny even as a child to hear answers change depending on what the Afghan thought was wanted. Maybe I'm nuts, but I admired them for it. It's a way of giving the finger to those who think they're smarter. But yes, it can be self-defeating at the same time, unfortunately...



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:46 AM

BYTEMITE


Yeah, definitely both are a problem for the Afghan who doesn't have much because of the economy, and has to give it away because of bribes.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 10:57 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Uhh yup! Everyone bitches about taxes in the states; I'd love to see all those who complain try to live like the Afghans; little taxes, huge bakshish when trying to do ANYTHING! At least here, the rich have to pay something



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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 1:36 PM

GINOBIFFARONI


"Bakshish" is one thing, and if and when an effective government began to work over there I think it would disappear over time...

But I have also read something upwards of %30 of foreign aid goes into someones pockets along the way.... If thats is true, I would say that would be an immediate problem.




Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010 5:39 PM

KIRKULES


Quote:

Originally posted by NewOldBrownCoat:
So are they smoking it themselves, selling it to the troops or exporting it? Is it any good? Anybody know where I can get some?


Don't know anything about the current quality of Afghan weed, but back in the late 70's it kicked ass. The leafs are different than your standard Columbian plant, with only five segments instead of seven and each segment is about three times as wide as Columbian. I haven’t smoke pot in years, but I would definatly support the Afghan farmers if given a chance.

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