Crop substitution

Hmmm. I'm torn. Should fans of altered consciousness be sad that "[t]he fields of Balkh province in northern Afghanistan were free of opium poppies this year, a success touted often by Afghan and international officials," or happy that the pretty poppies have been replaced with majestic fields of "[t]en-foot-tall cannabis plants"?

It's mixed news indeed from the Associated Press.

The reason for the change is simple: Afghani officials put the screws on farmers to stop cultivating poppies in order to curry favor with the United Nations and foreign governments. But those same officials don't give a damn about marijuana. That makes the choice easy because:

The U.N. said cannabis yields around twice the quantity of drug per acre as opium poppies and requires less investment. The U.N. drug report estimated farmers growing cannabis could earn the same amount per acre as opium farmers.

Politically correct crops, like cotton and watermelon, simply aren't that profitable to grow. Afghani farmers need to see some profit for their efforts, so marijuana it is.

I'll bet the farmers would do better yet if the crops they grow were legalized around the world so they could sell directly to well-heeled buyers without risking the wrath of meddlesome officials.