In Afghanistan, the northen province of  Balkh is pointed out as an example of success in eradicating the opium poppies. In this land, that is located between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, almost 30.000 acres of  land were full of opium poppies till 2 years ago. Then the decision to eradicate, and now, after 2 years, the province have been declared “poppies free” along with other 12. But this is not all the truth. How this result have been accomplished? The answer is really simple. Most farmers have simply switched crop, passing from the poppies to cannabis plants. Balkh province includes the city of Mazar-i-Sharif, famous in the past for the production of marijuana and hashish of the highest quality. many farmers that now grow cannabis, they say that is a going back to the traditions of their fathers and grandfathers, that decades ago grew the cannabis plant in these same places.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 6th, 2007 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.