Apparently the amount of Afghan land under poppy cultivation has grown by 21% in the past year - whatever our beleagured troops are doing in that tragic country, clearly any efforts to reduce this trade has been unsuccessful. But to tell an Afghan farmer not to produce one of the few things that has a chance of making any money, seems a bit fatuous anyway - it is in effect punishing him for meeting the demands of our own people. As Simon Jenkins said in The Guardian this week, the ONLY hope for reducing the problems of heroin consumption in the West are to reduce the demand by more investment in treatment and in addressing social exclusion. Attempts to curtail supply have never worked, anywhere, ever.
In the meantime I guess that this increase in heroin supply will be translated into our practices in the year ahead in terms of stronger purity for the same cost - we shall see.
