Marijuana Replacing Poppy Fields in Afghanistan.

[DevoTheStrange]

I thought this video on CNN was interesting.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/in...bs.abawi.afghan.hash.field.cnn?iref=allsearch

Now I am not stating this is bad or is good... just interesting and I thought I would share...

 

[SSS]

american taxpayers subsidize the farmers of afghanistan and get them to grow marijuana instead of poppies.....all under the armed protection of "coalition" forces.

in the meantime, american citizens fill up u.s. prisons from marijuana convictions.

ridiculous.

 

[lwien]

Great find.

The solution to SOME of Afghani's economical woes is obvious. Legalize MJ worldwide. Take the goddamn drug lords out of the business. Let the governments control distribution. I know. Governments are almost just as corrupt as the drug lords, but at least these poor farmers should get a bigger cut of the pie. Let it be a legal national crop and source of income. We should support their efforts. We should actually incentivize them to grow MJ rather than poppies. Encourage them to do so by not only monetary incentives, but support them with up to date agricultural knowledge and products. If there is any way to help take this country out of the dark ages other than education, it would be to increase their economy. Let Afghanistan be the MJ capital of the world. Their efforts should be supported, applauded and encouraged. Give them pride in what they have been doing for centuries and pat them on the back for doing it well.

And that CNN reporter. LOL. Pointing to the crop in the truck, "And this is hashish". I just shook my head and thought, "Not yet it's not".

 

[lwien]

american taxpayers subsidize the farmers of afghanistan and get them to grow marijuana instead of poppies...

Did I miss something in that report? We SHOULD subsidize them, but do we?

And I have no doubt that prison sentences for MJ use in the US had dramatically decreased over the years.

 

[SSS]

american taxpayers subsidize the farmers of afghanistan and get them to grow marijuana instead of poppies...

Did I miss something in that report? We SHOULD subsidize them, but do we?

she didn't say that but that is exactly what is going on. heroin is worth more than marijuana. bribes are theonly way things get done in afghanistan. not to mention the cost of having our troops stand guard over farmers.

and SHOULD we subsidize them? hell no. we shouldn't even be there.

 

[lwien]

american taxpayers subsidize the farmers of afghanistan and get them to grow marijuana instead of poppies...

Did I miss something in that report? We SHOULD subsidize them, but do we?

she didn't say that but that is exactly what is going on. heroin is worth more than marijuana. bribes are theonly way things get done in afghanistan. not to mention the cost of having our troops stand guard over farmers.

and SHOULD we subsidize them? hell no. we shouldn't even be there.

We are there for only one reason, and that reason is that Pakistan has nukes and the way I see it, that's a damn good reason to be there. If Pakistan should fall into the hands of radical Talibans (which is a very real possability) , we sure as hell should be as close to them as possible.

And the troops weren't standing guard over the farmers. They were there to protect the CNN crew.

 

[SSS]

Did I miss something in that report? We SHOULD subsidize them, but do we?

she didn't say that but that is exactly what is going on. heroin is worth more than marijuana. bribes are theonly way things get done in afghanistan. not to mention the cost of having our troops stand guard over farmers.

and SHOULD we subsidize them? hell no. we shouldn't even be there.

We are there for only one reason, and that reason is that Pakistan has nukes and the way I see it, that's a damn good reason to be there. If Pakistan should fall into the hands of radical Talibans (which is a very real possability) , we sure as hell should be as close to them as possible.

team america: world police! america fuck yeah!

actually, you are dead wrong why we are there. it's the same reason the soviets were there. to control to supply and distribution of natural gas and other resources. that worked out real well for the soviets didn't it? and they didn't even have to go halfway around the world to fight in afghanistan.

it's a trap as old as civilization. this is how empires fall.

 

[lwien]

she didn't say that but that is exactly what is going on. heroin is worth more than marijuana. bribes are theonly way things get done in afghanistan. not to mention the cost of having our troops stand guard over farmers.

and SHOULD we subsidize them? hell no. we shouldn't even be there.

We are there for only one reason, and that reason is that Pakistan has nukes and the way I see it, that's a damn good reason to be there. If Pakistan should fall into the hands of radical Talibans (which is a very real possability) , we sure as hell should be as close to them as possible.

team america: world police! america fuck yeah!

actually, you are dead wrong why we are there. it's the same reason the soviets were there. to control to supply and distribution of natural gas and other resources. that worked out real well for the soviets didn't it? and they didn't even have to go halfway around the world to fight in afghanistan.

it's a trap as old as civilization. this is how empires fall.

For the record, I am a right wing liberal, kinda. Actually, socially liberal but economically conservative. I hate it when we go on stupid as forays around the world. I was totally against going into VietNam as I was when we went into Iraq. Fuck, we are still in Germany and Japan for Christs sake, which makes absolutely no sense. But being in Afghanistan, considering what is currently happening in Pakistan, makes a lot of sense to me.

I laughed my ass off when GWB got up in front of the world and claimed that we were going to build a shining beacon of Democracy in Iraq. Countries in that part of the world have been tribal for centuries. They live and die by the sword and we're going to go in there and change that? LOL. I totally believe that when we pull out of Iraq, it will return to their tribal ways and will take another ruthless dictator to keep control over the warring factions, which is probably the reason why we will be there for as long as we have been in Japan and Germany since WWII.

We sure as hell know how to get into these messes, but have no idea how in the hell to get out. Why in the fuck are we still in Germany and Japan?

 

[SSS]

We are there for only one reason, and that reason is that Pakistan has nukes and the way I see it, that's a damn good reason to be there. If Pakistan should fall into the hands of radical Talibans (which is a very real possability) , we sure as hell should be as close to them as possible.

team america: world police! america fuck yeah!

actually, you are dead wrong why we are there. it's the same reason the soviets were there. to control to supply and distribution of natural gas and other resources. that worked out real well for the soviets didn't it? and they didn't even have to go halfway around the world to fight in afghanistan.

it's a trap as old as civilization. this is how empires fall.

For the record, I am a right wing liberal. I hate it when we go on stupid as forays around the world. Fuck, we are still in Germany and Japan for Christs sake, which makes absolutely no sense. But being in Afghanistan, considering what is currently happening in Pakistan, makes a lot of sense to me

it made a lot of sense to the soviets too. they don't exist anymore.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

yeah but you cannot blame afghanistan for the fall of the soviet union. There are other factors

 

[lwien]

yeah but you cannot blame afghanistan for the fall of the soviet union. There are other factors

With one of the main factors being that they went broke trying to keep up with our military.

 

[SSS]

uh guys, afghanistan was a huge factor in the collapse of the soviet union. they had no problem keeping up with our military buildup until a ten year, worthless war tapped them out. from global superpower to non-existent in less than 15 years, 10 of those spent occupying afghanistan.

 

[lwien]

Yeah, Afghanistan played a big part in it, but it was the culmination of that among other things that brought them down. As in most things, the downfall of the Soviet Union was multi-faceted.

 

[reece]

actually, you are dead wrong why we are there. it's the same reason the soviets were there. to control to supply and distribution of natural gas and other resources. that worked out real well for the soviets didn't it? and they didn't even have to go halfway around the world to fight in afghanistan.

it's a trap as old as civilization. this is how empires fall.

You seem to forget that the 9/11 attacks were planned there. We didn't just go there out of left field like we did in Iraq. And had we not been distracted by Iraq, we might not be there now. Or, if we had accepted (or maybe more accurately, understood) the Taliban's offer to hand over bin Laden, we wouldn't have had to go in the first place.

Also, wasn't the Soviet Union asked by the Afghani government to come in and help them against the Mujahideen? The Soviets must have been pretty good to trick Afghanistan into asking for assistance so they (Soviets) could "control to supply and distribution of natural gas and other resources." Just like we tricked bin Laden into basing himself there and then attack us so we could invade.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

I didn't say it was not a factor... I am just saying it wasn't THE factor. If anything You can say it was a catalyst. But it was not entirely the cause.
You also have to factor in What Saudi Arabia did too oil prices towards the end of the war... that played a big part. Soviets lost all kinds of money once the Saudi's changed their prices. Soviets spent shitloads of money on the Afghan war. So they were on the verge of being broke, and the all of a sudden they end up being broke because they were not suspecting to lose that money, and how did they fix it?
they Stopped importing Food (They didnt stop entirely, just stopped importing the amount in cash that they were losing in Oil)
And if they were not competing with the US in an arms race, that money could have gone else where.

..... And my post was not too discuss why we are in Afghanistan.
It was too discuss Afghani farmers switching from Poppy to Marijuana. Although you cannot discount the fact that the war is more than likely affecting it.
One would have too think, Is the world's demand for Heroin going down? or are there influences from the outside trying too flood the market with MJ and less Heroin in an effort too lessen demand on heroin?
(that's where my line of thinking was, I could care less about talking about war)

 

[SSS]

the farmers are switching to marijuana because they need to make money and they are being paid NOT to grow poppy.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

can you find me an article or a source for this? not saying it isn't true. I am interested in the topic.

I understand they need to make money. But what I want too know is, are they being told too grow the MJ or is it because it is a more desirable product now? (in comparison too opium)

 

[SSS]

i don't know off hand. i've been keeping up with the goings on in afghanistan for 30 years. you'll find it all out there though.

remember the 90's when our government loved the taliban for banning the harvest of poppies??

re your edit: it's only more desirable to grow marijuana because the subsidy makes up the difference in profit. same thing as domestic farming.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

For me, at least, I want too know which is affecting this happening more. Supply and Demand. Or Political manipulation against opium.

Edit for your Edit: so you are saying it is more Political manipulation than an increase of demand of MJ


See this is where I wanted the discussion too go... not why we are in that part of the world

 

[lwien]

Devo, thanks for posting up that vid. Brought back a lot of memories.

When I was in the Air Force back in 1970, I was stationed in Peshawar Pakistan. I was an Intercept Analyst in a small "spy base" there. We'd eavesdrop on Soviet and Chinese communications and tracked their telemetry on their missile tests and manned space flights. Was only a few miles away from each of their boarders. Intercepted radar communications and tracked every flight that took off and landed in the Soviet Union. Anyways, I also spent a bit of time in Kabul as well as the Khyber Pass. In the Pass, they processed huge amounts of hash. It was a pretty amazing sight. The hash was pressed into large blocks, about the size of those very large Hershey bars that you get for cooking in supermarkets and the color was about the same as those Hershey bars as well. There was a bright gold Afghani stamp embedded on each one and they were cross-stacked about 4 feet high and there had to be at least 40 of those stacks. Amazing. It was there that I first got high.

 

[SSS]

yes, it's political manipulation. when the taliban lost power the farmers were able to grow poppies for the first time in years. i'm not sure if our government's involvement in regulating poppies is noble or just another attempt to manipulate a commodity but the u.s. government is actively suppressing the poppy harvest by paying warlords cash.

it's a vicious cycle. they pay the landowners money, the landowners often funnel it right back to the mujahadeen.

 

[SSS]

Devo, thanks for posting up that vid. Brought back a lot of memories.

When I was in the Air Force back in 1970, I was stationed in Peshawar Pakistan. I was an Intercept Analyst in a small "spy base" there. We'd eavesdrop on Soviet and Chinese communications and tracked their telemetry on their missile tests and manned space flights. Was only a few miles away from each of their boarders. Intercepted radar communications and tracked every flight that took off and landed in the Soviet Union. Anyways, I also spent a bit of time in Kabul as well as the Khyber Pass. In the Pass, they processed huge amounts of hash. It was a pretty amazing sight. The hash was pressed into large blocks, about the size of those very large Hershey bars that you get for cooking in supermarkets and the color was about the same as those Hershey bars as well. There was a bright gold Afghani stamp embedded on each one and they were cross-stacked about 4 feet high and there had to be at least 40 of those stacks. Amazing. It was there that I first got high.

nice!

 

[Rick]

Right on SSS!
Putting the politics aside for a minute, was that some mind blowing Indica or what? They treated those plants like corn. Sitting on that truckload of plants. Imagine fucking on it! You would end up at the bottom of the pile and suffocate! What a way to go! OMG, Ill bet there was enough dust and scraps on the ground and everywhere to keep all FC members vaping for a day. Tough fucking plants they are. Very little irrigation, if any. Now there is a new business. Tours of Afgan MJ fields. Fill your bag(small bag, supplied) with whatever you want while touring to take back to the tent and enjoy. Humvees for tour buses.
I wonder about all those GIs too. Looks like some bad duty.
So good they are moving away from poppies. Still drugs but better ones.

 

[DevoTheStrange]

The only thing I remember was..... Holy Crap I wanna steal that truck with everything in it....
Just once I would like to be in the presence of that many plants.

 

[Flyer]

a bit off topic, SSS while you and I are waiting on pds get the lunch box as hold over me over. ps, need a fishing pal for your state?