Originally Posted by Shotsie

I can't get behind decriminalizing heroin to fight the war on terror, I don't see anything good coming from that. The military could eradicate the opium crops in Afghanistan pretty quickly if they were so inclined, they're not because the objective is "winning hearts and minds", and the main source of income for most of the peasant population is opium production. Russia actually wanted to start spraying Afghanistan's opium crops, but the idea was shot down by NATO for fear it would alienate the local people. NATO's answer is to pay the farmers not to grow opium, which doesn't work because they take the money and grow the fucking crops anyway.


There is no better example of how much of a clusterfuck the war in Afghanistan really is than the opium trade. Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the worlds heroin. Annual deaths from heroin overdoses in the more 40 than countries contributing to the NATO mission in Afghanistan are 50 times higher than their total military losses. Heroin is one of the most effective tools the terrorist organizations have against the west, it provides funds for the weapons and training they need; at the same time it destroys hundreds of thousands of lives in the countries of their enemies, yet we turn a blind eye to it so we don't alienate some poor farmers who most likely hate us anyway. It sure as hell shows that we're not fighting this war to win. if we were the first step would be to raze every fucking poppy field in Afghanistan.


The rest of what this guy is saying makes sense though.