Hello.
The Taliban's official policy was that it was against all drugs,
including cannabis. Specifically, the Taliban apparently made some
effort to ban the use of hashish, Afghanistan's most popular cannabis
product.
source:
"While the Taliban banned opium production in late 1996, it made no
effort to enforce this ban. It also condemned cannabis cultivation.
Destruction of 100 hectares of cannabis in Maywand district of
Kandahar was confirmed by Mercy Corps International (MCI). There were
reliable reports that the Taliban punished some hashish users."
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 1996
http://www.maurizioturco.it/arlacchi/banca_dati/usa_International_Narcotics_Control_Strategy_Report/INCSR%201996%20Afghanistan.htm
"Taliban Stamping Out Hashish
By GRETCHEN PETERS
Talk about cold turkey.
The Taliban religious army, known for its strict interpretation of
Islamic
law and its stiff punishments for those who break it, has established
its own
three-step program for hashish smokers:
Beat them until they confess who their dealer is.
Give them an automatic jail term.
Dunk them in an ice-water bath for three excruciating hours a day
until their
habit is broken."
source: Associated Press, 4/14/1997, archived in a newsgroup message
hosted by Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=taliban++hashish&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=33580B32.7679%40sn.no&rnum=1
"The Taliban has enforced a ban on hashish, a milder drug used by
soldiers on both sides of the civil war"
source: Washington Post, May 1997, archived in a newsgroup message
hosted by Google Groups:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3383609C.5F592412%40ican.net
June 2001:
"Assigned to ensure military compliance with Islamic law, the
turbaned, whip-wielding police scoured soldiers' clothing and vehicles
for prohibited materials such as music cassettes, hashish and tobacco"
http://www.seacoastonline.com/2001news/6_15_w2.htm
"Obeying a Taliban edict, many marijuana cultivators in Afghanistan
stopped growing their crops when the hard-line Islamic militia was in
power"
http://dailybeacon.utk.edu/article.php/7131
------------------
Although the Taliban's "official" policy may have been anti-hashish,
the drug was reportedly widely cultivated, available, and used. In
fact, Taliban actually collected taxes on hashish production, a
practice that did not end until early 2000, according to a Washington
Post report..
"Last month, officials banned the collection of civil and religious
taxes on hashish, which is made from hemp,"
From Washington Post, March 09, 2000, hosted by cannabisnews.com
http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5014.shtml
Additionally, "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh's lawyer reportedly
told MSNBC that "almost everyone" in Afghanistan used hashish.
'Lindh's lawyer recently suggested on MSNBC, that because hashish was
so prevalent in Afghanistan and because "almost everyone" used it,
that Lindh couldn't be held accountable for his activities because he
was high.'
source: thetentacle.com
http://www.thetentacle.com/Articles_Jan/Jan30_article1.html
Also see Newsweek, December 17, 2001, "A Long, Strange Trip To The
Taliban" archived by Yahoo Groups:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/message/15257?source=1
Additional sources:
"Afghanistan has many smokers of hashish, which also flourishes here"
source: Independent, 21 November 2001
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/125.html
AFGHAN GOVT BURNS TONS OF HASHISH
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1933.a09.html
Taliban's drug tide sweeps by tiny force
February 14, 2001
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,437628,00.html
------------
Interestingly, many ex-Taliban fighters are reportedly now addicted to
all sorts of drugs (i.e., heroin, opium, valium, amphetamines, pain
killers, etc.).
See:
Once they were warriors: Taliban drug addicts, washed up in Karachi
Sunday, 22-Jun-2003, Agence France-Presse
http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/bq/Qpakistan-taliban-drugs.RV3f_DuM.html
-------------
search terms:
taliban, cannabis, hashish, narcotics, afghanistan, banned,
prohibited, "islamic law", drugs
I hope this helps. |
