Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Clown-Free Zone... sorry, no clowns allowed -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (337347)	6/26/2007 4:35:43 AM
From: Secret_Agent_Man	Respond to of 436258

the real reason for going into afganistan-Afghan opium production 'soars' news.bbc.co.uk The World Drug Report says more than 90% of illegal opium, which is used to make heroin, comes from Afghanistan. It says cultivation of opium poppies increased dramatically in the country, despite the presence of more than 30,000 international troops there. The report says Afghanistan is unlikely to regain real security until the production of illegal drugs is tackled. Helmand plantations In the 1980s, Afghanistan produced some 30% of the world's opium, but now that figure has more than tripled, the UN document says. It says that Helmand province alone cultivates almost half the world's illegal opium. Thomas Pietschmann, the report's author, says production in Helmand has now outstripped that of entire countries. "The province of Helmand itself is around 70,000 hectares under cultivation, which is three times the total area under cultivation in Myanmar (Burma). "So only one province, three times as important as the whole of Myanmar, the second-largest opium-producing country," Mr Pietschmann says. The report says that while global co-ordination of drug law enforcement has improved, traffickers of heroin from Afghanistan and of cocaine from Colombia are now targeting new routes in Africa. The UN says this threat must be addressed immediately if Africa - already struggling under the burden of HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria - is to avoid the serious health damage caused by drug abuse. The report also shows that the overall market for illicit drugs remained relatively stable in 2005-2006. daddy warbuksh real business