HazyBritBoi

So i was looking around a blog site and i came upon an interesting article about Afghanistan and how basically the US forces there have pretty much given up hope on destroying the amount of Opium being made.
As most people know Afghanistan is the world's No.1 producer of Opium and in the past Turkey used to be big into it too. But Turkey had its uses and so the US helped Turkey, license the growing of opium for medicinal use. The US drug companies are required to buy 80% of it's 'narcotic raw materials' from Turkey and India.
It seems odd that the US would back the growing of opium, albeit for medicinal uses. So while the US is ok with it's allies growing illegal substances which are part of the culture and most definately is abused by those who use it as casually as we smoke weed, it will not agree with States that legalized medicinal marijuana. In 2004 when the liberals produced a bill calling for decriminalization Washington opposed it and pretty much made it clear that it would be hell for Canadians going into the States.
To conclude, the US are ok with their overseas allies growing opium for medicinal use, India, Turkey and Austrailia (?!), while condemning States from even legalizing medicinal marijuana and pursecuting patients. Not to mention their northern neighbours being the biggest tokers in the world!

I may have mistaken some things from the article so i will leave you a link to allow others to make something of the article.

Danger Room - Wired Blogs