Reply #22: If we bought the crop, and destroyed it, the next year, they'd grow more. [View All]

[R Hickey]

It seemes that year after year, those poppy farmers would just grow bigger and bigger crops. If the government bought the crop, the addict's demand would still be out there, forcing the price up until that demand is met. So black market prices would tend to rise. Those farmers after a few years might get pretty prosperous, and develop large financial appetites.

The components of the opium trade are all interwoven. You have the supply side, the demand driven side, and the government regulation side. Its hard to tell which came first, the can or the worms.

If governments buy the crop, then in order to control demand on the other end, it stands to reason that governments would have to sell it, too. Right now the big drug companies are selling all the synthetic opium pain killers they can, so its hard to tell what they'll do.

Perhaps soon religion will no longer be the opium of the people...opium will be the opium of the people.