Publication

Afghanistan has been a source country for narcotics since the 1500s. Since 2001, poppy cultivation has risen dramatically and Afghanistan has become the world‘s largest producer of opium. Opium gum is harvested from the bulbs of poppy plants by "scoring" each plant with a knife. The labor-intensive process of scoring each individual poppy bulb takes place on over 300,000 acres and employs approximately 1.6 million Afghans. The opium gum is chemically manufactured into morphine and finally converted into heroin. This report analyzes the current situation and makes recommendations for the future.