Drug Policy and Afghanistan

Eric Martin reports that the Bush administration has kind of sort of won in their poppy eradication campaign in Afghanistan. What, you say. The Bush administration did something right??? Yes, indeed. Afghani farmers have found another cash crop that can they can survive on instead of opium.

Marijuana.

Awesome.

Of course, the Bush administration and its allies will start eradicating the pot as soon as they can. Because they don't actually care about those farmers. That they will become even more impoverished if they grow chickpeas or whatever means nothing to them. Nor does effective drug policy within the United States that might cut the demand for drugs. I suppose the US could create a policy that would give these farmers subsidies to not grow drugs that would make up the income, something like an Agricultural Adjustment Act for the world. But that makes way too much sense for the United States and its war on some classes of people who make or do drugs.