European Parliament pushes for legal analgesics scheme in Afghanistan
The European Parliament has asked the EU Council of Ministers to push the Afghanistan government to create pilot projects for turning illicit poppy production into a source of legal opium-based analgesics.
The European Parliament has asked the EU Council of Ministers to push the Afghanistan government to create pilot projects for turning illicit poppy production into a source of legal opium-based analgesics.
An approved report by Italian Liberal MEP Marco Cappato noted: "Insurgents, warlords, the Taliban and terrorist groups are obtaining their major source of funding through trade in illicit narcotics." Indeed UN figures suggest the country produces 93% of the world's opiates, mostly channelled into illicit drugs.
Cappato called for the EU Council to develop pilot schemes for small-scale conversion of some current illicit poppy that could be formally tabled for approval by Kabul.