Posted on 08/31/2021 6:37:32 PM PDT by dynachrome
Edited on 08/31/2021 6:52:39 PM PDT by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
“None of the opium produced in Afghanistan is used in the legal market.
You might be surprised. The crackdown on poppies is slow to influence those that need the drugs.
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/drug_of_abuse.pdf
Page 46 of the report:
“A more modern method of harvesting for pharmaceutical
use is by the industrial poppy straw process of extracting alkaloids from the mature dried plant (concentrate of poppy straw). All opium and poppy straw used for pharmaceutical products are imported into the United States from legitimate sources in regulated countries.”
It was legitimate until just recently in
Afghanistan which has been supplying for years as they have the most and it is a focal on the economy.
wy69
“I’m pretty sure that most opiates in the western world are entirely synthetic.”
Possibly. But here is a piece of an article put out by Nature Communications in 2016, just five years ago:
“Opiates are commonly used painkillers that are prescribed for illnesses ranging from cancer to rheumatism and toothaches. They are typically extracted from plants, and more efficient production of opiate has been attempted. Biotechnology methods for poppy cultivation to increase yields have been studied extensively however, complex and unknown mechanisms that regulate biosynthetic pathways might make it difficult to increase opiate yields. Although there are several examples of successful chemical opiate synthesis, cost-effective methods have not been established because of the complex molecular structure of opiates.”
The magic is cost, as usual. If they can import it cheaper than they can make it, it’s, for them, more bang for the buck. I am having resistance finding articles that will say what they are doing currently. But even if this is the case the drug cartels make billions each year and that has a direct effect on the economy for the west. So legal and illegal drugs are a factor. Of course it will cost them the same as pharma to get the stuff. And five years ago it wasn’t cost effective. Not sure.
wy69
Just playing the odds.
I think most all drugs should be legal.
doesn’t mean I’ll use them.
Wrong. Afghanistan is not one of those “regulated countries.”
All of their opium is grown for the black market.
“Afghanistan is not one of those ‘regulated countries.’”
Despite the threats posed by Afghanistan’s illicit drug business, experts noted, the United States and other nations rarely mention in public the need to address the trade - estimated by the UNODC at more than 80% of global opium and heroin supplies. Heroin made from opium grown in Afghanistan makes up 85% of the market in Europe.
You keep using the words illicit and regulated. Anything that is available from the wholesaler is regulated. Their license is for them to produce product. If it meets the standards required to be bought, it will. We don’t control where it comes from within other countries. Just if it fits our needs.
As Afghanistan controls the market for opium so soundly, do you really think that their opium is not reaching US soil in the measure of secondary sales from Europe and other supplying countries? Those selling to us can’t cover the need with their productions. So where is it coming from? It has to be Afghanistan. They have almost all of it. So whether you are the primary buyer, or in the chain, you are still purchasing and supporting Afghanistan’s people and economy.
“All of their opium is grown for the black market.”
And you’re going to trust foreign countries concerned with nothing but their bottom line not to buy from the black market or from the source for wholesale and dealer sales? To them it is a business. And that’s all. Buyer beware.
wy69
I showed you information on which countries produce opium for the legal market. They produce more than enough for the world.
You have not shown any proof of your position and your feelings about the subject just don't cut it.
The bottom line is, you have no idea what you're talking about and you're just making chit up.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/20/world/taliban-s-ban-on-poppy-a-success-us-aides-say.html
They have indeed gone back and forth on that. But they did at one time have them eradicated starting in 2000.
“I did not use the word ‘illicit.’
Perhaps you should read the sites you post to represent your point.
“Clandestine Heroin Laboratory in Afghanistan
“In 2010 groups in Afghanistan produced 90 percent of the world’s illicit opium, using clandestine labs well hidden in the country’s topography.”
https://www.dea.gov/sites/default/files/drug_of_abuse.pdf
Also in your article:
“Currently, there are three main sources for illegal opium: Burma, Afghanistan, and Colombia. Opium and heroin are ideal trade products–they are in great demand, are very profitable to produce...”
You’ll notice the word “trade” was in there. Since they are trading, can you say without a doubt that the drugs being traded aren’t somehow ending up in American pharmas when wholesalers in India, Turkey and Australia could just be changing the labels? It’s been done before.
You are too trusting. There is way too much money on the float and you have little information to be sure. Also, you might have asked me to go back and find more information I copied and pasted before calling me a liar saying I didn’t know what I was talking about and making stuff up when you have no idea who I am, and what I have done.
Good luck. I won’t be answering any more of your posts as I don’t have the time to waste nor the desire to be verbally insulted by a person that doesn’t consider the lawlessness of people in the world. And attacking the messenger when you can’t disprove the point of a conjecture is an old liberal trick to deflect the possibilities which may not come into your favor. That provides me nothing and you less.
wy69
Yes, I can say without a doubt that black market opium is not ending up in the legal trade.
Maybe tally wants to control it to fill up the warchest.
Followup...for some reason the “no-longer-heroin dealing” Taliban just negotiated a deal with the Biden admin to trade a retired US Navy vet they have held for two years for a drug trafficker we have held for 17.
Doesn5 sound like they plan to stay out of the business.
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