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Article: End of opium ban means cheaper heroin for Pakistan's addicts.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- October 14, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan _ These are easier times for Pakistan's estimated 300,000 heroin users, with prices tumbling from $1.20 a gram to 30 U.S. cents after the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the world's largest grower of opium poppies, lifted all restrictions on the industry in the face of U.S. attacks.
U.S. and U.N. narcotics officials believe the Taliban lifted their year-old ban against the cultivation of opium poppies, the starting point for heroin, so they could tax the industry and replenish their war coffers. The ban had been declared on religious grounds.
Oddly, for an officially Islamic nation that bans alcohol except for foreigners, heroin, ...