Legal Opium

Wikipedia : "It seems 80% of the opium in the USA is produced in India and Turkey. It's also grown legally in Tasmania, France, the UK and Japan. A farmer in India gets around $29 US for a kilo of raw opium. While in Afghanistan - in 2002, the price for one kilogram of opium was $300 for the farmer, $800 for purchasers in Afghanistan, and $16,000 on the streets of Europe before conversion into heroin. Opium is about 10 times more profitable for the Afghan farmers than wheat."

Heck does that mean a farmer gets $30 US for a kilo of wheat?

Wiki also states that the Taliban cut back 94% of opium growth in 2000 to 74 tons a year. Since we took over, it has apparently gone up to 6100 tons a year on 402,000 acres of cropland. And it seems the Taliban collect tens of millions of $ of the farmers as a 'tax'.

I wonder if the US has any of that Agent Orange still kicking around. Probably. But then they probably got new stuff that is stronger.

Sheeesh!