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Article: The opium war rages on
- Article from:
- New Statesman
- Article date:
- August 17, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright New Statesman Ltd. Aug 17, 2009. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Mike Trace highlights a dangerous drug problem
In late 2001, I was involved in overseeing the UK's drug dependence treatment system, and was called in by No 10 to consider the impact that a successful campaign in Afghanistan would have on the UK as supplies of heroin to British addicts dried up. The government's thinking was that a military presence in the poppy-growing areas would quickly facilitate the control and eradication of opium crops, leading to a global drought of processed heroin, which in turn would lead to a surge in the number of addicts seeking treatment as their supply disappeared.
We knew even then that this was an unlikely scenario, not least because addicts respond to the ...