European Parliament pushes for legal analgesics scheme in Afghanistan

Published: 29-Oct-2007

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.

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