re: #198 Ringo the Gringo

I think it was Christopher Hitchens who suggested that, rather than burning down the Afghan poppy fields, we make them legal and allow them to sell opium to pharmaceutical companies instead of drug lords, thereby creating a profitable industry for Afghanistan while diminishing the illegal heroin market.

Yeah, but the companies aren’t likely to show up at the farmer’s door in the middle of the night and kill them and their families for selling to the drug lords. You’ve got to look at the other incentives which are out there.