Sir, The letter from the Senlis Council (Aug 28) and your leading article (Aug 20) propose to resolve the problem of the opium trade in Afghanistan by licensing opium for legal and medicinal purposes. This may at first sight appear as a magic solution to a complex problem. However, according to the UN International Narcotics Control Board, which regulates the production and trade of controlled drugs, global demand for opium-based medicines (such as morphine and codeine) is fully satisfied. For the past 25 years, total production of opiate raw materials has exceeded the demand for opiates needed for medical and scientific purposes, and current global stocks of raw materials are sufficient to meet global demand for two years.

As to the economic arguments, the difference between prices for legal and illegal opium is enormous. Why should Afghan farmers sell their opium at the legal world market price when on the illicit market they can get a much higher price? Prices for licit opium are about £6-£18 per kilo in India, the largest producing country for legal opium, whereas the average price for illicit opium in Afghanistan was £58 per kilo in June 2007. Furthermore, controlling licit cultivation is costly, and given the situation in Afghanistan the enforcement of a system to ensure that farmers supply only the licit market appears highly unlikely.

In short, making Afghanistan’s illegal opium legal would not lead anywhere. With illegality removed, more opium poppies and more drug trafficking would blossom. Terrorists would still be financed by the drug trade and, unless action is taken to improve access to medicines in developing countries, people would still suffer from unnecessary pain.

Resolving the world drug problem requires concerted international action with a long-term perspective, which includes sustainable alternative legitimate livelihoods for the farmers. Legalising opium will only cause more problems.

HAMID GHODSE, Professor, International Drug Policy at St George’s, University of London

Sir, It is high time that we learnt the lessons of Prohibition in the US. We should legalise all consumption of cannabis with stiff penalties for illegal suppliers. Licensed manufacturers should supply cannabis products of a recognised standard, to be sold by chemists or tobacconists at prices comparable to cigarettes, thus discouraging the dealers.

Then we should legalise all hard drugs to be prescribed free to registered addicts. And we should buy as much of the Afghan poppy crop as we can, and destroy the rest. These measures would put dealers out of business, cut down the prison population and help the Afghans.

MICHAEL HASLAM, Feering, Essex

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