Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Iraq's new export: Opium

Someone once told me that, in today's world, wars are fought over three things: Land, Religion or Drugs. With that in mind, I've waited five years for this article.

A side-effect of every war is the surge of two markets fed: natural resources and the black market. Natural resources are generally an after effect - think the oil crisis of the late 1970's and the Iran/Iraq War, and cotton/textile market growth after the Civil War. As far as the black market is concerned, drug prices are an obvious reflection on business.

During the Vietnam, the US saw a surge in heroine sales, thanks in no small part to the entrepreneurial spirit of Frank Lucas, now famed through the hit movieAmerican Gangster. Today, the drug of choice is opium.

It is no coincidence that the opium crop was up 90 percent in 2006. And a report released in May in The Independent reflects the rise of the underground markets in Iraq as well. The problem that many exporters are having is getting their product out of the country, as the condition in Iraq are exceeding dangerous.

Cocaine prices maybe souring, but the heroin will be flowing by the end of next year around the globe. Expect a rise in the rate of heroine overdoses over the next six to nine months.

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