Fight Drugs and Global Warming Together
WASHINGTON — The news from Afghanistan on the counter-narcotics front is bad. Opium production from Afghanistan’s 408,000 acres of poppy rose almost 50% in 2006, contributing to global heroin production that set a new record high of 606 metric tons in 2006. The effort to stop the growing and production of illicit drugs, led by the United Kingdom and supported by a $600 million U.S. effort, is falling farther behind.
In Latin America, a region also plagued by poppy cultivation, there is ample evidence that illegal drug production carries with it a significant environmental cost. Trees in rain forests are cut down to make space for illegal drug laboratories. Gallons of chemicals such as acidic anhydride, sodium carbonate, and ether, which are used to convert morphine into opium, are discarded into rivers and other waterways. Fires are started to cover up illicit laboratories.
We also need to find alternatives to carbon-based fuels. The Energy Information Administration projects world carbon emissions rising from 26.9 billion metric tons in 2004 to 33.9 billion metric tons in 2015.
Policymakers have so far addressed these problems with isolated or loosely coordinated efforts. This approach ignores the possible nexus between these challenges and potential solutions. Consider these two observations:
First, the seedpod of the opium poppy contains both gum and seeds that can be processed for drugs. Poppy, which flourishes almost anywhere, is an understandable crop for Afghanistan’s poor farmers to grow and sell for conversion to lucrative – though illicit – products since poppy prices are 10 times higher than for wheat, and farmers do not fear the government’s eradication efforts. The challenge for the counter-narcotics effort in Afghanistan is to find an alternative crop that will induce farmers to give up poppy cultivation or to find a reason to grow poppy legally.
Second, the effort to limit carbon’s impact on the global environment has led to increased interest in biofuels. Biofuels are derived from organic materials known as biomass. Americans are most familiar with ethanol, which is made from corn and added to gasoline. Biodiesel, more familiar to Europeans, is made using soybean or other plant oils and can be used as a fuel in its pure form with some engine modifications, although it is usually blended with traditional diesel. In a small Australian pilot program in 2005, Tasmanian farmers used biodiesel produced from poppy seed, which is about 50% oil, to run their tractors. The poppy plant itself, like the jatropha plant that is being grown in India for biomass, has the potential to be a useful source for biodiesel.
There is a potential opportunity to connect the fight against poppy cultivation and the need for new sources of energy. To test this hypothesis, the United States should fund a crash program of international research to determine whether the opium poppy can be turned into biomass for the large scale production of biodiesel and design the necessary technology to do so. Assuming the scientific questions can be addressed, there will remain economic and social issues. Can the Kabul government ensure, perhaps by buying whole crops with international assistance (which would be cheaper and more effective than an eradication program), that the price for poppy will equal or exceed the price that narco-traffickers are willing to pay? Assuming that some illegal market will continue to exist in parallel with the legal one, what kinds of government controls, including a continuing eradication program to deter cheating, will be necessary to insure that the vast majority of the crop is sold for production of biomass fuel?
If opium poppy can be used to make biodiesel, and farmers shift production to a legal crop more profitable than today’s alternatives, it would deal a blow to narcotics traffickers. Because truck drivers in Afghanistan and the whole South Asian region use diesel, Kabul could set up biodiesel plants in Afghanistan to process the poppy, providing thousands of jobs. Getting more biodiesel into trucks in the area would have a positive impact on global warming and, since biodiesel contains no sulfur, would also reduce acid rain. Other countries with drug production problems, like Pakistan or Colombia, might also adopt the process, reduce drug production, create jobs, and promote a more sustainable environment.
The 21st century will require that leaders think in new ways about how diverse challenges and solutions are related. Fighting narcotrafficking and global climate change could be two dots waiting to be connected.
Marc Grossman is a Vice Chairman of The Cohen Group. He is a GMF Board Member.
December 12th, 2007 at 4:22 am
Mr. Grossman:
The approach you suggest seems very promising. Have you had any success in gaining a hearing for it? One would think that the Senlis Group and others would be interested.
Ken Dillon
Scientia Press
Washington, D.C.