Report launch: new tactics needed for Afghan drugs problem

21 November 2005

New report by The Senlis Council to be launched today at Chatham House.

In the light of the increasing violence and instability and the failure of current drug control strategies in place in Afghanistan to achieve effective results, The Senlis Council, an international drug policy think tank with operations in Afghanistan, today called on the UK Government to review the drug control policies it is currently implementing in Afghanistan. The UK is the lead country of the coalition in Afghanistan for counter narcotics since 2001.

At a high-level meeting at Chatham House, London, the think tank presented the results of its Feasibility Study on a licensing system under which opium would be cultivated for the production of pain relief medicines such as morphine and codeine. Under a licensing system, the Afghan Government would control poppy cultivation for the production of opium-based pain killers, rather than trying to suppress it.

"It is totally unrealistic to even attempt to eliminate the crop which accounts for as much as 60% of the country's economy," said Emmanuel Reinert, Executive Director of The Senlis Council.

The Council said that the results of the Report show that licensing Afghan opium is an appropriate response to the drug problem - whereas the current military response is ineffective and will increase instability in the fledgling democracy.

"It is a pipe dream to believe that the goal of the reconstruction of Afghanistan will be achieved by using force against Afghan poppy farmers" said Reinert. "Opium licensing would provide an effective solution for Afghanistan and although the current strategy shares this same end goal of a stable economy and democracy for Afghanistan, it is deeply misguided in responding with violence against the Afghan people. How can one hope to achieve stability and gain the support of the farmers for a new Afghanistan through the destruction of the crops that provide for their families?"

The Report notes that because the drug crop is equivalent to 60% of the country's GDP it represents an important economic problem for the country and so can no longer be considered uniquely as a drug issue.

"An economic crisis cannot be resolved by implementing militarised and aggressive anti-drug strategies," said Reinert. "Currently, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime' policy assessment for Afghanistan is incorrect, because it supports this type of response."

"It is the UK's responsibility as the lead country on drug policy to seriously examine all the possibilities available to combat Afghanistan's enormous illegal drug cultivation," said Raymond Kendall, Former Secretary General of Interpol, who spoke about the security implications behind a licensing scheme at the meeting. "In the light of the failure of the current drugs strategy, the UK must question whether the approach it is taking is working or not and reorganise its priorities if necessary - the intentions are good, but the methodology is wrong."

This press notice was supplied by The Senlis Council.

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