Afghans Replacing Opium Poppies with Cannabis

(Khwaja Gholak, Afghanistan) In those areas where the government's anti-poppy campaign is working, Afghan farmers are now growing cannabis and making hashish.

As the Afghan and Western governments focused on the problem of soaring Afghan opium production, which hit record levels this year and remains a booming industry, cannabis cultivation increased 40 percent around the country, to about 70,000 hectares this year - from about 50,000 hectares last year, the United Nations said in an August report.

And even though hashish is less valuable per weight than opium or heroin, the report said, cannabis can potentially earn a farmer more than opium poppies because it yields twice the quantity of drug per acre and is cheaper and less labor-intensive to grow.

So, as Emily Litella used to say, "It's always something."