Is the U.S. Drug Problem Spiraling Out of Control?

By Eliseo Santos

Emergingtruth.net

January 7, 2014

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 2014 opium production in Afghanistan hit a record high. After the trough in opium production in 2001,  the 2014 net opium poppy cultivation grew a record 224,000 hectares. This is an increase of about half the size of Delaware.

The 2014 record high is a 7% increase from the 2013 record high of 209,000 hectares and more than a 350% increase from the 2001 record low.  A possible explanation for the 2014 net increase in opium poppy cultivation is the 63% decrease in opium poppy field eradication. In 2013 the Ministry of Counter Narcotics and UNODC verified 7,348 hectares of opium  poppy field eradication, while in 2014 the same agency only verified 2,692 hectares.

U.S. Military Involvement 

These numbers seem to show that the U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan since 2001 may correlate with the dramatic rise of Afghan opium production.  According to CNSNews.com, Hilmand and Kandahar, the two provinces that contain the most hectares of opium poppy fields, were also the two Afghan provinces with the most U.S. casualties. The two videos below briefly and thoroughly present the facts on the U.S. military involvement in Afghan Opium production.

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