Afghans Swap Smack For Pot
Now that we're winning the war on drugs (in Afghanistan), they're switching cash crops from poppies to pot . With gentile encouragement from the U.N. and other international oficials, Afghanistan has made efforts to eradicate poppy fields farmed to produce heroin. But they didn't say anything about weed, man!
So now, fields of ten-foot tall pot plants are dotting parts of Northern Afghanistan, an area traditionally used for growing poppy plants. In a new U.N. survey, cannabis cultivation rose 40 percent in Afghanistan this year, to 173,000 acres from 123,550 in 2006, and is being grown in at least 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. "The government cannot provide a good market for other crops like cotton, watermelon and vegetables, so I have to grow marijuana instead of poppy," said pot farmer Mohammad Alam. Then, turning up The Allman Brothers on his stereo, he went back to work.
Afghans turn from growing poppies to pot [AP]
Photo credit: The New York Times