who is buying up all that Afghanistan opium?

[donsu]

bumper crops.

I know it's being bought by drug barons. but let's have some names. (we know some names of illegal arms dealers, why not names of opium buyers?)

and isn't some of it bought legally by pharma barons?

and how is it transported out of the country? that's a lot of opium to be shipped out sneakily.

it's as if everybody studiously looks the other way and/or has 'no comment' on it all.

I mean, that opium produces mountains of money/profit for those involved, all the way down the line from grower to user.

[Beelzebud]

1. As always, the CIA is great at getting this stuff into America.

Air America wasn't always a radio network.

[TomInTib]

6. You got that right, Beelzebud

Way back when, we used to escort guys from a company called Southern Air Transport into Laos where they would meet with tribal types who grew huge tracts of poppies in the hills.

And I came home with a 900 pound gorilla sitting squarely atop my shoulders.

Damn, that seems like eons ago. But then, it was eons ago.

[warrens]

2. Hey, I'm buying as much as I can

Money's kinda tight at the moment, but how much can I get for about $20?

[bridgit]

3. america & europe, and a smattering of addicted peoples everywhere...

http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/hwar.html

[valerief]

4. What do you think that new superhighway through the center of

the U.S. is for? To make opium delivery easier than ever! I'm sure the pharmas are getting the biggest bump of this Afghan bumper crop.

[Ezlivin]

5. I can put you in touch with a guy...

Are you interested in small or big lots?

And what about transportation?

Have a nice day.

[Warpy]

7. Well, hell, we may need the stuff

if conservatives stay in power and the health care system collapses completely.

Opium to kill the pain is how we'll keep working when we're too sick to go on.

[woodsprite]

8. My bet is the BFEE and the CIA. n/t

[Cleita]

9. Big PHARMA? Isn't opium used for a lot of the pain killers

and anesthesias that we use legitimately in medicine here?

[dkofos]

10. YOUR'E TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

[RedStateShame]

11. Neil Bush

[gratuitous]

12. Maybe the same people . . .

Maybe the same people shipping oil out of Iraq? We're similarly in the dark about just who's buying and shipping Iraq's oil (or if they're even paying for it, and if they're paying, how much). Curious how much incredibly valuable commodities are moving around the world without any accountability. It's almost like someone's counting on the chaos and fog of war to hide a bunch of thievery.

But George W. Bush is a good, Christian man, so I know that can't possibly be the case.