This is an interesting way to stop poppy growing. I have met Atta. He is a legitimized warlord in a suit. When you sit in his reception area it is full of gorillas in suits. When the article refers to farmers having been visited by soldiers, I would not like to have been a farmer. Pot is drug of choice in Afghanistan Pasadena Star-News, CA By Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi Article Launched: 09/18/2007 THERE'S good news in Afghanistan's battle against the cultivation of illegal drugs. In June, the Afghan government declared that the northern province of Balkh had stopped growing opium poppies. Unfortunately, there is also bad news. Local farmers have replaced their poppy crop with marijuana plants. Local authorities say production is growing at an alarming rate. "The government has banned he opium poppy," said Nazar Gul, 54, a farmer in the Charbolak district of the province. "Now we have started to plant marijuana, which is also good for us." Gul said he had little choice but to make the switch. "I planted poppy last year, but soldiers came to our house to warn us that if we grew it, they'd destroy our homes," he said. "What could we do?" But he couldn't earn nearly enough to support his family by switching to a legal alternative, such as wheat, he said. "The best way out was to switch to marijuana, and I hope to make good money this year, too," he said. Gul offered this comparison between the two crops: "For us farmers, poppy is gold and marijuana is silver." The province is famed for its high-quality hashish - known as "Balkhshirak." Atta Mohammad Noor, the provincial governor, admits that the cultivation of marijuana is on the rise in Balkh. "People did not plant poppy this year, but it seems marijuana has taken its place," he said. As yet, there are no reliable estimates on the number of acres of marijuana under cultivation. The governor is already complaining, however, that he lacks the resources to combat what he sees as a growing problem. "Our counter-narcotics department has plans in hand for eradicating marijuana in the province, but who is going to pay for it?" he said. Noor is still upset at what he sees as the lack of support for his poppy eradication effort. "We cleared 128 square kilometers of opium poppy last year," he said. "Every year, the international community announces that it is spending millions of dollars on counter-narcotics, but we haven't seen a dime of that money." Meanwhile, marijuana plants can be seen sprouting up everywhere in the province. Mohammad Muhsan, another farmer in Charbolak district, explains that the harvested marijuana is divided into two grades: high-quality shirak and lower-quality khaka, or dust. "Each pound of shirak is worth about $20, while a pound of khaka goes for $10," he said. That's only about 20 percent of what he earned while growing poppies. Still, Muhsan said marijuana is the best alternative available. "Marijuana is a very good crop," he said. "We get five times more money from it than from wheat." Other farmers note that while they may earn less growing marijuana than they did with poppies, it's also an easier crop to maintain. "We used to have to spend half of what we made just to produce the opium," said Ahmad Shah, another farmer in Chamtal district. "We had to weed the fields and we also had to spend a lot on harvesting. With marijuana, you just plant it, water it a little and then harvest it like wheat. It does not take so much work or money." A drug trafficker in the Charbolak district, who spoke on condition that his name not be used, said smuggling hashish out of the area was relatively easy. "I purchase several sacks of hashish from farmers up here and then send it to the south to sell to major traffickers," he said. "Hashish is mostly smuggled to Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan, and from these countries it is sent to Europe and other parts of the world." He added, proudly, "Balkh shirak hashish is very famous around the globe." Of course, increased production has its down side as well. "The price of hashish seems to be falling day by day because cultivation of marijuana has increased," the trafficker said. Afghanistan's counter-narcotics ministry insists it will take as tough a stand on hashish as it did on opium. "We are committed to getting rid of all types of narcotics in Afghanistan," said ministry spokesman Zalmay Afzali. "We are planning on eradicating marijuana in the provinces." Then again, the country's previous efforts to stamp out illegal drugs have been spotty at best. For several years now, Afghanistan has been the world's largest supplier of opium, with the past year's harvest reaching a record high. www.iwpr.net Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is a journalist in Afghanistan who writes for The Institute for War & Peace Reporting, a nonprofit organization based in London that trains journalists in areas of conflict.
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