Just watched this interesting documentary on Afghanistan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83X4wx6XYU4
A couple of things struck me. The first is the staggering statistic
that, despite the war, the shithole is responsible for 95% of the worlds
heroin supply.
Then I remembered a story about Bill Gates investing in Monsanto (http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100830/12233610823.shtml)
because he thinks interfering in the natural order of things will
somehow result in feeding the starving hordes, when, in fact, possibly
the best thing he could do is help prevent the human equivalents of
locusts breeding in the first place by funding compulsory birth control
for the third world.
And it struck me – surely Bill has enough money to pay Monsanto to
develop a opium poppy-specific plant disease? I suspect that act would
do more good to the planet, as a whole, than saving any number of
starving Africans.
The other point was the amount of ‘prescription’ drugs produced by
Pakistan. Are these produced for western consumption or are they
rip-offs? I don’t think I want drugs produced in such a place for
myself and my family. And if they are counterfeited products, what is
being done about it?
Is there actually any point to Pakistan?
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