wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

On Demand

Program Schedule

Topics

The Leonard Lopate Show / May 12, 2009 / Opium Wars

Opium Wars

Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Opium

Despite the United States best efforts in the "War on Drugs" and the "War on Terror", Islamic fundamentalist groups in Afghanistan still rake in half a billion dollars a year in the opium trade. Gretchen Peters has covered Pakistan and Afghanistan for over a decade. Her book is called Seeds of Terror: How Heroin Is Bankrolling the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Event: Gretchen Peters will be reading and signing books
Monday, May 18, at 7:00 pm
Half King
505 West 23rd Street, at Tenth Avenue


Related Content

Comments

Add Your Comment
Refresh
  • [1] Gabrielle from Brooklyn May 12, 2009 - 09:10AM

    I have heard the idea of cultivating poppies for prescription drug use. This would allow Afghanis to make money legally from poppy farming. Does your guest know if this is a viable option? It appears to make a lot of sense.

    Yhank you.

    Gabrielle

    Brooklyn
  • [2] Amy from Manhattan May 12, 2009 - 01:43PM

    Is there anything the Afghan gov't., or even the US gov't., could do to support the growing of substitute crops by farmers currently opium poppies? Possibly on the model of Sarah Chayes' Arghand but on a much larger scale?
  • [3] Barton Campbell from Jersey City May 12, 2009 - 01:44PM

    Why is legal growing of opium never mentioned? All morphine and codeine is made from opium. The United Nations allows legal production of opium in Afghanistan, Turkey and I believe a third country to supply this legal market for pharmaceutical production. It amounts to hundreds of tons a year.


  • [4] Brian from Lower Manhattan May 12, 2009 - 01:45PM

    What about the new plan that was announced recently to go after the Taliban side of the opium trade?
  • [5] hjs from 11211 May 12, 2009 - 01:48PM

    oil pays for terror when are we going to get rid of oil.
  • [6] Barton Campbell from Jersey City May 12, 2009 - 01:56PM

    Actually your guest is wrong, there is already legal production of opium in Afghanistan and has been for years.
  • [7] the truth from bkny May 12, 2009 - 01:56PM

    Neither is going away as long as there are certain americans that are profiting.

Leave a Comment

Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.

Your comment


* required
The information entered into this form will not be used to send unsolicited email and will not be sold to a third party.
 
Back to Episode