Recently Liberal leader Stephane Dion outlined a constructive and principled plan to address Harper’s irresponsibility on the Canadian Afghanistan mission… one of the plans key elements being the so-called “Poppies for Peace” proposal to develop an effective strategy to combat the problems stemming from the Afghanistan economy’s dependence on the illegal opium trade.
In effect Dion has aligned with some of the recommendations put forward by the SENLIS Council’s
Feasibility Study on Opium Licensing in Afghanistan for the Production of Morphine and Other Essential Medicines
and the Washington Quarterly published article Poppies for Peace: Reforming Afghanistan’s Opium Industry (Peter van Ham, Jorrit Kamminga)
Clearly, today’s U.S. led military counter-narcotics strategy is ineffective and counterproductive – reconstruction efforts are severely constrained as long as opium dependence remains. An alternative approach is needed… now is the time for the Poppies for Peace proposal: using medicinal poppy cultivation as a bridge to sustainable development and lasting security in Afghanistan. We need look no further than the Turkish model and it’s 1970’s success in switching from unregulated poppy growing that fueled the world’s heroin drug trade to licensed poppy cultivation for the production of medicines…
Stephane Dion – forward thinking, decisive leadership!
In effect Dion has aligned with some of the recommendations put forward by the SENLIS Council’s
Feasibility Study on Opium Licensing in Afghanistan for the Production of Morphine and Other Essential Medicines
and the Washington Quarterly published article Poppies for Peace: Reforming Afghanistan’s Opium Industry (Peter van Ham, Jorrit Kamminga)
Clearly, today’s U.S. led military counter-narcotics strategy is ineffective and counterproductive – reconstruction efforts are severely constrained as long as opium dependence remains. An alternative approach is needed… now is the time for the Poppies for Peace proposal: using medicinal poppy cultivation as a bridge to sustainable development and lasting security in Afghanistan. We need look no further than the Turkish model and it’s 1970’s success in switching from unregulated poppy growing that fueled the world’s heroin drug trade to licensed poppy cultivation for the production of medicines…
Stephane Dion – forward thinking, decisive leadership!






