Opium - Usage Trends
Usage Trends
Although opium is not used as readily in its pure form anymore, its production has not decreased. The fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan in 2001 enabled farmers in that rugged country to begin cultivating poppy plants again. Under the Taliban, opium production was strictly controlled; some farmers were severely punished for not following the Taliban's rules. The Taliban were forced from power when U.S. and coalition forces invaded Afghanistan after terrorists attacked the United States on September 11, 2001. Terrorists had been allowed to train in Afghanistan.
Once the Taliban fell, opium crops began to thrive again. Increased poppy production throughout Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Southeast Asia in an area known as the Golden TriangleThe highlands of Southeast Asia, including parts of Burma, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand, where opium poppies are grown illegally. has led to lower prices, higher quality, and larger quantities of heroin in Russia, Europe, and the United States. More farmers also began growing opium poppies in Mexico, Central America, and South America as well, sensing that the market for heroin is rising while the market for cocaine is declining.
Opium use occurs mostly where it is grown, although the farmers that produce it are not eager consumers of their cash crop. Some sources say that up to a quarter of raw opium is used by the people who grow it, their neighbors, and those who process it into morphine and heroin. Other sources say that opium farmers are less likely to abuse the drug than people involved in the purification of opium into morphine and heroin. Sometimes the drug is still used for its medicinal qualities, especially the control of diarrhea and chronic, or long-lasting, pain.
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