Good News: Afghan Opium Trade Reaches $4 Billion

I just have one word to say...Napalm. The Age

AFGHAN opium poppy cultivation grew 17% last year, according to the 2008 World Drug Report, released by the United Nations.

It continues a six-year expansion of the country's drug trade and increasing its share of global opium production to more than 92%. Afghanistan's emergence as the world's largest supplier of opium and heroin represents a serious setback to US policy in the region.

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The Taliban earned $US200 million ($A208 million) to $US400 million last year from poppy growers and drug traffickers in areas under its control, said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.

He estimates that Afghan poppy farmers and drug traffickers last year earned about $US4 billion, half of the country's national income.

Afghanistan's high-yielding variety of opium poppies has helped double global opium production since 2005.