Poppies

One of the biggest foreign policy failures we face is the narcotics trade. This has been true for decades. But with Afghanistan once again in play, the failure is going to have real consequences.

There are solutions, but no political will to propose them.

The obvious, immediately-available solution is to buy up the crop. Offer 95 percent of market. The sellers will be happy to sell to a legal buyer rather than an illegal one. Then do whatever you want with it for now - compost it.

The longer-term solution is one that we will simply not hear from the major political parties. Legalize and regulate the traffic.

As my friends in the Libertarian Party say, there are two words that answer drug policy:

Al Capone.