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LASHKAR GAH -- Aziz Ahmad is a deeply worried man. With two wives and seven children at home, the 30-year-old farmer depends entirely on his opium-poppy crop to make a living. This year, it's proving to be an increasingly difficult task. First, falling water tables stunted his crop. Then a mysterious blight emerged to destroy most of what remained. In a normal growing season, Ahmad's 4-hectare plot in the Washer district of Afghanistan's southern Helmand Province yields 100 kilograms of opium -- enough to cover his debts and ensure his family's survival over the winter. This year he managed to...

KABUL (AFP) – As the pink poppy fields of southern Afghanistan yield their sticky harvest, opium production in the country that supplies the world with heroin is set to fall, farmers and officials say. That's good news for the fight against the multi-billion-dollar drugs trade but it could be bad news for Afghan farmers struggling to feed their families as the war against Taliban insurgents and drugs gangs escalates. "This year we had less poppy cultivation, which I think was because of our public awareness campaign which we launched before cultivation started," said Gul Mohammad, head of the counter-narcotics department...

The health ministry in France has issued a warning after eight people died and seven fell sick in two European countries from using heroin contaminated by anthrax. "Since December 6, there have been 15 confirmed cases of anthrax among heroin users, 14 in Scotland and one in Germany," the ministry's General Directorate for Health (DGS) said in a statement. "Eight people died," it said. "The likeliest source is heroin contaminated by anthrax spores." Most of the casualties had injected the heroin, but others also inhaled it or smoked it. Anthrax is a potentially lethal bacterium that exists naturally in the...

Obama’s First Order: Don’t Hurt the Heroin byPaul L. Williams, Ph.D.thelastcrusade.org Obama's agenda; Narco-Nation Building Hey, guys, don’t pick the poppies. That’s the order from the Obama Administration to the 4,000 Marines presently engaged in Operation Khanjar or “Strike of the Sword,” an invasion of the Taliban infested Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan. The Marines of Bravo’s Company 1st Platoon sleep beside groves of poppies Troops of the 2nd Platoon walk through the fields on strict orders not to swat the heavy opium bulbs. The Afghan farmers and laborers, who are engaged in scraping the resin from the bulbs, smile...

Stoned wallabies causing crop circles Tasmanian wallabies are getting stoned on the state's opium poppy crops and creating crop circles. Things are really hopping in Tasmania where wallabies are getting stoned on the state's opium poppy crops and creating crop circles. The wallabies are breaking into the poppy fields and making the circles while they're high. Rick Rockliff from Tasmanian Alkaloids says wildlife and livestock which eat the poppies are known to act weird, and he's told the Hobart Mercury there's been many stories about sheep eating the poppies and then walking around in circles. Tasmania is the world's largest...

LANCASTER [CALIFORNIA] - Poppies popped up Wednesday at Lancaster City Park. So did painted antelopes and ferocious-looking dinosaurs - all in preparation for this weekend's annual California Poppy Festival. "We've been planting poppy plants all week and will be planting about 500 plants today," said Jeff Campbell, recreation supervisor for Lancaster's Parks, Recreation and Arts Department. "And we'll probably be planting through Friday. "The tents for the festival started going up Monday and have been going up non-stop every day so far this week," Campbell said. "All told, we'll have about 175 tents. In the northwest area of the festival...

Faltering British efforts to tackle Afghanistan's poppy crop have found an unlikely ally – in the weather. is expected to reduce parts of the country's opium harvest drastically. Scientists believe freezing winter temperatures followed by late rains and a possible drought may cut this year's yields, with some farmers losing half of their crop. The fierce winter cold – which claimed hundreds of lives across Afghanistan – is thought to have stopped millions of poppy seeds from germinating. Late rains have then stunted many of the plants that survived.

Out on Lancaster's west side sits the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Downtown, at the State Parks Mojave Desert Information Center, senior park aide Judy Elgin fields phone call after phone call inquiring about the reserve. "Almost every call we get this time of the year is, 'Are there poppies yet?' When I tell them there are no poppies yet, some people are really disappointed," Elgin said. However, since Wednesday, Elgin doesn't have to disappoint callers - the reserve has its first poppy of the season. The 1,800-acre reserve, on Lancaster Road (Avenue I) at approximately 150th Street West, might...

Villagers in remote areas of Badakhshan Province, north-eastern Afghanistan, have been using opium as a substitute for medicine for years. They are oblivious to the harm it can do to their health. There is no official data about the number of drug addicts in Badakhshan. However, the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) says one million people are addicted to drugs there, 45,000 of whom are women. This video short shows a women’s opium smoking session in the village of Jukhan, tucked away in mountainous Badakhshan. While efforts are being made to rehabilitate drug addicts in the village,...

Southern provinces are the source of most Afghan poppy production Opium poppy production in Afghanistan reached another record high last year and Kabul must do more to stop it, a US State Department report says.The report says that the poppy cultivation helps Taleban insurgents obtain money and weapons. The drug trade hinders progress towards economic stability and democracy, the report adds. Afghanistan grows nearly all of the world's opium poppy crop in an illegal trade worth billions of dollars. "Eliminating narcotics cultivation and trafficking in Afghanistan will require a long-term national and international commitment," said the State Department. "The...

The vast majority of "high value targets" for U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Afghanistan are tied to the Taliban, which is using the country's rampant opium poppy cultivation to fund terrorist insurgencies. "We must make it clear to the Afghan people that we, the international community and the Afghan government are serious about this drug trade and corresponding terrorism," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. "We are not just eradicating a few opium fields or arresting some local, midlevel drug dealers to show something is being done, but that is...

The problem with poppies - What to do with the plants that kill more than pain Colby Cosh - September 17, 2007 One of the troubling things about NATO's war in Afghanistan is that there continues to be major disagreement between the allies over one of the most important proximate war aims: namely, the interception of funds from opium poppies being used to bankroll guerrilla operations of the Taliban. Not everyone agrees with the U.S.'s determination--reiterated in a State Department policy document Aug. 9--to pursue a policy of poppy eradication through on-the-ground violence and aerial spraying. European governments point out...

52 REASONS NOT TO MOW 37 WAYS TO HELP TREES Please download with 100% cotton, rice, recycled, or scrap paper Ron Howard, director of A Beautiful Mind and many other films,made his first film at age 8.. an anti mowing film which showed the nature of mowers' attacks on lawns. Art Buchwald: People shouldn't be judged by the length of their grass. In 2003 through now, the world has seen floods, famine, fire, mudslides, hurricanes, tornados and other disasters created by the unprecedented destruction of trees around the world. Trees are nature's weather stabilizers. We need trillions of trees.. new...

THESE ARE THE SENATORS WHO VOTED TO GIVE SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS TO ILLEGAL ALIENS REGARDLESS OF POLITICAL PARTY, THESE POLITICIANS NEED TO BE DEFEATED IN 2006, 2008 OR 2010, WHENEVER THEY NEXT COME UP FOR OFFICE. SEND THIS TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW; THE ENTIRE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES NEEDS TO KNOW THIS INFORMATION -- THAT IS, UNLESS THEY DO NOT MIND SHARING THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY WITH FOREIGN WORKERS WHO NEVER PAID INTO IT AND AMERICAN CITIZENS ARE BEING LEFT OUT. Grouped by Home State Alabama: Alaska: Stevens (R-AK), Yea Arizona: McCain (R-AZ), Yea Arkansas: Lincoln (D-AR), Yea Pryor (D-AR),...

I am curious why none of the media covers the most important aspect of the Malvo shootings. If you look at Newspapers on the dates when the shootings are underway you discover something I find quite interesting. The shootings begin to dominate the news the day before the debate on the Iraq war starts and they catch them the day after the declaration of war??? If you ask most people "do you remember the debate about starting the second Iraq war", they will all answer "yes of course". But if you followup with the question "name one point in the...

I recently received a reply to a post that stated: "This should be beneath a "freeper". Sad." So I asked.. what is it that makes a FReeper? My reply (and I will admit was tasteless) was also questioning. It stirred controversy and was removed? Why Moderators? Can you not tell me? Did it not meet with your "FReeper" mentality? According to all posted guidelines it should be listed but no, you chose to delete it. Yes.. I'm the first one IBTZ, I'm sure you'll nick me for speaking up..

<p>I received a a small FLower.. Which I now hold in my hand. I am weeping at the sight of it.</p> <p>Please bare with me my friends....the tears are becoming public. I want to ...ah crap... I can,t go on!</p>

Afghanistan will encourage its powerful drug lords to invest their illegally earned profits back into the war-shattered country, according to the governor of the nation’s top opium growing region. The offer comes amid warnings of another bumper poppy crop that will fuel a booming narcotics trade that already accounts for 35 per cent of the impoverished nation’s income. "We as a government will provide them the opportunity to use their money for the national benefit," said Helmand Gov. Moham-med Daud during a two-day trip this week to the region by United States Ambassador Ronald Neumann. "They must invest in industries....

Vets win right to sell poppies in post officesSteve Lambert Canadian Press November 03, 2005 CREDIT: Ottawa Citizen - Pam Champagne (right) is shown adjusting a poppy on Ernie Pelletier's blazer as the Bells Corners Legion poppy campaign was kicked off. WINNIPEG -- Veterans have won a battle far removed from the front lines of Europe, Asia and Africa. They've gained the right to sell poppies inside Canada Post offices across the country. The Royal Canadian Legion's annual poppy campaign got off to a rocky start in the northern Manitoba town of The Pas last week when veterans were told...

On a weekend when many Tucsonans are camping in the mountains or partying at poolside, Dan Hawkins has been standing outside a supermarket in 100-degree heat, clutching a fistful of memories that seem to grow dimmer each year. There was a time when passers-by eagerly scooped up the scarlet Buddy Poppies Hawkins has peddled each Memorial Day weekend since 1987. Nowadays, there are far fewer takers for the bright red flowers that recall America's fallen troops. "It used to be a big thing," said Hawkins, 72, a Vietnam veteran and leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7399. "Pretty...