Eight in ten Canadians support Poppy for Medicine initiative in Afghanistan
Prime Minister Harper must choose between supporting US led drug policies or support for Canadian troops in Kandahar
82% of Canadians oppose proposed US chemical spraying in Afghanistan
OTTAWA - ICOS on Wednesday urged Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to endorse running
Poppy for Medicine pilot projects in Afghanistan after
a nationwide survey of Canadians revealed that 8 in 10 Canadians support the initiative.
At present, the current counter-narcotics policy of forced poppy crop eradication has been a dramatic failure. According to the latest U.N survey, opium cultivation for heroin in Kandahar was up by 32% from 2006, with overall poppy cultivation levels at an all-time high for the second successive year. The UN report also noted the growing link between opium cultivation and the Taliban insurgency, indicating a growing financial relationship between opium farmers and Taliban in southern Afghanistan.
Forced poppy crop eradication has put Canadian troops at risk, because the Taliban have been able to gain increasing support from angry farmers who have seen their livelihoods destroyed by the international community. Kandahar farmers in particular live in extreme poverty with no crop other than opium poppy viable for them. Opium poppy can be used to produce either heroin or the painkilling medicines morphine and codeine.
Poppy for Medicine projects would see village-cultivated poppy transformed into morphine tablets in the rural communities by bringing the important added value of the transformation of poppy into medicine at the local level. Farmers would be given the financial incentive necessary to sever ties with the insurgency, while the current world shortage of these pain-relieving medicines would be addressed.
Just six wealthy countries, including the United States and Canada, use more than 80% of the world’s supplies of morphine medicines, the developing countries that account for more than 80% of the world’s population use just 5%. The price difference is more than fourfold in continents like Latin America.
“These polling figures show overwhelming support for
Poppy for Medicine and cannot be overlooked by Prime Minister Harper,” said Norine MacDonald QC, President and Lead Field Researcher of ICOS. “The Canadian people have recognised that the current counter-narcotics policies in Afghanistan are failing and negatively affecting Canada’s mission in the country, and that Prime Minister Harper has to take leadership on new approaches in Afghanistan. “
Pilot projects needed in next planting season
73% of those polled stated they would be willing to use Afghan Fair Trade morphine while 70% believed that Prime Minister Harper should personally endorse such pilot projects.
“We urge Prime Minister Harper to back our request to run pilot projects in the next planting season,” said MacDonald. “It is vital that we develop a positive economic relationship with the local population and cut their growing financial ties to the Taliban insurgency. By integrating the Afghan farmers into a legal economy through
Poppy for Medicine projects, we give locals a financial incentive to sever ties with the Taliban, and develop a positive economic relationship with the Karzai government and the NATO troops operating in Kandahar.“
Canadians against Chemical Spraying of Afghan Crops
The survey of 1,000 Canadians, conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of ICOS, also found that 82% of Canadians would oppose the chemical spraying of farmers’ poppy crop - a program the US has been threatening for the next planting season.
Chemical spraying was attempted by the US in Colombia earlier this decade and proven to be wholly ineffective. As well as merely displacing illicit coca cultivation to more remote areas, the aerial spraying in Colombia led to starvation and displacement of entire farming communities, while posing severe health risks to both humans and the environment.
“Chemical spraying would not only be a catastrophic for the agricultural community of Afghanistan it would turn them against Canadian troops in Kandahar,” said MacDonald. “We firmly believe that chemical spraying would trigger more political hostility against the NATO presence and the Karzai government in Afghanistan where the battle for hearts and minds is already suffering tremendously from past errors. It would light a political fire against the Karzai government and the Canadian troops operating in Kandahar.”
“Prime Minister Harper now has to decide between continuing his support for failed US-led counter-narcotics policies or assuring that Canadian troops are fighting in a supportive environment and succeed in their mission,” said MacDonald.
The majority of Canadians polled (54%) opposed the current counter-narcotics policy of forced poppy crop eradication, which has led to farmers turning to the Taliban for the protection of their livelihoods, putting Canadian troops at risk.
“Forced poppy crop eradication has been pivotal in hindering stability, security and development in Kandahar’s poorest areas,” said MacDonald. “Canada needs to immediately pursue alternative policies in Kandahar that will send a positive message to the Afghan farmers that we are there to help them earn a legal living.”
Complete Ipsos polling results for Canada