Antidrug effort will do harm, not good

CHEMICAL SPRAYING in Afghanistan to wipe out the country's illegal narcotics trade would be nothing short of disastrous ("Afghans may reconsider stance on poppy-spraying," Page A6, Oct. 22). Not only would it create even more suffering for the country's impoverished rural communities, it would give the Taliban the decisive edge in southern Afghanistan, where the country's future stability and popular rejection, or not, of extremism hang in the balance.

The American-led chemical spraying campaigns in Colombia were ineffective, leading to starvation and displacement of entire farming communities. Spraying has also posed serious health risks to humans and the environment.

President Hamid Karzai has already voiced strong opposition to the idea of chemical spraying; the international community must now respect his wishes.

Instead, farmers should be allowed to grow their poppy for the production of essential medicines, such as morphine. This would provide a financial incentive to sever ties with the insurgency, while addressing the world shortage of pain-relieving medicines.

Chemical spraying is the silver-bullet solution that never was. Were it carried out, the hearts and minds of the local population would be lost forever, and with it, any chance of success of bringing peace to Afghanistan.

NORINE MacDONALDK
President and lead field researcher
The Senlis Council
Paris