Think-tank proposes artemisia for opium poppy switch

The Senlis Council, an international think-tank specializing in security issues and narcotics, has suggested that conditions in Afghanistan are suitable for the growing of the artemisia plant, from which the antimalarial agent artemisinin is extracted. The group, which has offices in six countries, including Afghanistan's capital Kabul, argues that this would provide an alternative cash crop to the opium poppy.

A previous study by the same think-tank considered the option of buying the base ingredient for opium in order to manufacture medical morphine. Afghanistan is estimated to produce approximately 92% of the world's opium poppies, according to the 2007 World Drug Report, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Norine MacDonald, the Senlis Council's president, told the Canadian Press/Google News that artemisinin production could "help diversify the economy of Afghanistan's rural communities and reinforce a new pharmaceutical industry." Ms MacDonald suggested that such a move would also benefit many other developing countries, where shortages of antimalarial therapies hamper efforts to treat the 500 million estimated cases of clinical malaria per year worldwide.