Incan Empire Essays

Incan Empire Essays Incan Empire Essay Incan Empire Essay Afghanistan Opium Production October 1347, the Europeans were greeted with the black plague which wiped out about one third of the whole population in Europe nearly 20 million people. (History) Far before that in about 3400 B. C. the cultivation of the new age plague was being planted by the Mesopotamians which is known today as Opium. Present day, Afghanistan controls nearly 90% of all opium growth and distribution which is a $65 billion market. (Sites) Opium is a dried condescended form of poppy Juice which has a narcotic effect and if used in large doses it may be poisonous. Opium is most opularly found in Heroin, which is a street drug that was once used to sedate soldiers in war. Today Heroin controls the lives about 15 million addicted users worldwide, and in Afghanistan alone about 1 million users. This is due to the availability and cheap price of the drug throughout Afghanistan. (Sites). Just in the past three years Afghanistans poppy industry began resurfacing. And with Afghanistans ever increasing cultivation of the opiate producing poppy plant, we are seeing the effects of the cultivation and drug use getting worse. Thus making Afghanistan the biggest opium producer today. Addiction is a common thread for mankind everybody craves some form of something. Ranging from that cup of coffee you drink every morning to the television programs you watch at night, theres always a void that needs tending too. In Afghanistan however, the voids they face differ greatly from most Americans. Notoriously known for their rap sheet of wars the people of Afghanistan have been plagued by terrorism and the failure of their government for years. Creating a poverty ridden war traumatized environment for people to live in. Causing voids we as Americans so much take for granted such as income, clean water, and food. These everyday burdens have a heavy toll on the physical and mental well-being of many. Belittling them to succumb to the control of the pain killing derivatives of the poppy plant. Opium is no stranger to the afghan people, many users today have been addicted to the drug for years. l started to use the drug for pain relief after my husband died. says Mesoma, a 25 year old woman from Kabul, Afghanistan. (Cohen) That very response seems to be the common thread between addicts who try opium for the first time. It seems for a majority of users, opium helps them cope with something they lost. But why opium? And not a doctor prescribed drug? According to the World Health Organization or WHO Afghanistan has one of the worst health care systems worldwide. This is due to underfunding and neglect to their health care program, which has been an ongoing theme for years. (WHO). In saying that without the financial backing of the government for health care and the already struggling economy, many people dont have the money to treat their physical and mental illness. Which is when they turn to the cheap alternative heroin which is sold by the half gram for about $4 U. S. (Cohen) Ironically the same thing thats helping addicts ope with their problems is in turn causing them bigger problems in the end. A prime example is a 28 year old addict name Reza who was also a part of Anna o en CNN news report. Reza nad this to say using drugs made me leave my nome and my family, if I didnt use drugs I would have a family and a good life. Reza turned to drugs after a so called bad friend introduced him to heroin a year ago and hasnt stopped ever since. His last words for cameras were l would like to give up but at the moment I cant. (Cohen) Reza like many users has become so addicted to the potency of heroin that he no longer has control over the drug . With no money for food or the necessities to live addicts like Reza are beginning to flood the streets of major cities and abandoned buildings to find some type of shelter where they can shoot up and get high. As it stands it is estimated that one million or eight percent of Afghanistans population is addicted to opium. Lumahieu) And the thirty six percent increase of poppy cultivation could be to blame for this spike of users. And the worst is yet to come according to Gwen Lighter an author for the Moscow Times, she reports that after all foreign military forces depart in 2014 Opium will become the eading economic activity in Afghanistan. (Lighter). When this happens Afghanistans already struggling counter narcotics program will be under more scrutiny by farmers and Taliban and wi thout the backing of foreign forces. This may cause another potential rise in addicts due to the strengthen corruption within the Taliban and government. One potential solution thats got the world leaders stirring is the possibility of a Joined force operation of two countries such as Russia who has one of the worst Heroin addiction problems and the US to go in and defuse all turmoil appening in Afghanistan surrounding the Opium plague. (Lighter) The actuality of this actually happening is unknown. One thing we do know is as long theirs money to be had the opium will never stop flowing. Opium production in Afghanistan annually rakes in about $2 billion, which makes up about a tenth of Afghanistans economy. (Quraishi) What makes up Afghanistans rapidly growing opium production are farmers, the Taliban, and corrupt government officials. Afghanistans opium production first relies heavily on farmers. Before poppy, Afghanistan had their fair share of wheat farmers. But once they found out that poppy could make them 10 times more money than wheat could they began growing poppy. In 2012, there were about 200,000 farm families that grew 90 percent of all the worlds opium. Quaraishi) And with the rapid increase within the past year the number of farm families may have significantly risen. The average bottom of the business farmer makes about $2,500 which is still more than most Afghanistan families earn. Which is why many farmers are turning to the Taliban for help. In the documentary Opium brides they share stories of farmers who borrow money from rug lords to manifest thei r own poppy in hopes of earning money for their families. But when the government driven eradication programs come in to sweep out their crops they become in debt with the drug lords. When this happens and the farmers cannot pay back debts the Taliban begin kidnapping the farmers daughters to sell as brides for the Taliban. (Quraishi) Many farmers are outraged about the eradication because of the debts they will have to owe. Some farmers even believe that the same officials eradicating their crops are the ones splitting up seeds among themselves to sell. It is a harsh reality but farmers need to do what they have to, too survive. While, the poppy production funnels in $2 billion annually for the country. The rest of the $4 billion of the $6 billion industry is being put into the hands of the Taliban who control these grow ops and heavily tax and drive up opium prices tor buyers outside of the country. With this money the Taliban can continue to strengthen their forces and become an ever lingering problem within the Afghanistan community. Making them a more lethal threat too many including the US. The worse part about all of this s that the government is in on the whole thing, making the issue more difficult to fix. Based upon my investigation of the Opium problem in Afghanistan I see two trends that for see this industry to grow more than it already is. The two main reasons for this go back to the backbone of what makes up this business, the money and the addicts. The demand of Opium throughout the world will never stop growing for the simple reason of addiction. Once addicts begin using its a known trend throughout my investigation that is extremely hard to shake. With that said the demand will forever stay high. Making for virtually a never ending need of opium. Meanwhile suppliers or Afghanistan at this rate cant stop because they got the bitter sweet taste of income. Which feeds not only the corrupt but the country as a whole. They would be looking at a 10 percent decrease of national income to their which would be a terrible blow to an already struggling economy. Which brings me to the conclusion that this problem will forever linger throughout the existence of Afghanistan. In saying that although the opium market will never be stopped, the efforts to slow down opium production and addiction is being discussed critically worldwide today. Bibliography 1. Black Death. History. com. A Television Networks, n. d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. 2. Sites, Kevin. Afghanistans Opium Plague. VICE. N. p. , n. d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013. 3. PSS. PSS, n. d. web. 05 NOV. 2013. 4. Norland, Rod. Opium Production in Afghanistan. Ny Times, n. d. Web. 03 Nov. 2013 5. ZAFAR, MORWARI. Oblivion In Afghanistan. New Internationalist 442 (201 1): 27-31. Academic Search Premier . Web. 19 Nov. 2013. 6. Afghanistan. WHO. World Health Organization, n. d. Web. 17 Nov. 2013 7. United Nations. Drugs and Crime. Afghanistan Opium Survey 2013. By Jean-Luc Lumahieu, Sandeep Chawla, and Mohammad Ibrahim Azhar. N. p. : n. p. , n. d. United Nation Office of Drug and Crime. United Nation Office of Drug and Crime. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. 8. Lighter, Gwen. Looking for the Reset Button in Afghan Opium Fields. The Moscow Times. N. p. , 18 NOV. 2013. web. 19 NOV. 2013. 9. opium Brides. Dir. Najibullah Quratshi. PSS. PSS, 03 Jan. 2012. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.. 10. Holzehu, Nicolas. Addict Smokes Heroin off Tinfoil. [Online image]. Flickr. com. Winter 2010. Thurs 16 Nov. 2013 11. Howard- Gibbon,J. A. Orientale Poppy. [Online image] namethatplant. wordpress. com. 23 May 2010.