Poppy growers hail legalisation proposal

Farmers in the northern province of Kunduz have welcomed a proposal by the Senlis Drug Policy Advisory Forum for legalising opium poppy cultivation for medicinal purposes. More than 50 farmers, provincial officials, local elders and national leaders attended a meeting which the Senlis council held in the province on April 8. Shoaib Sultani, a Senlis staffer, said the aim was to provide farmers with alternative livelihoods and to increase the supply of morphine, an opium derivative.