Yes, Yes, Yes, The War On Drugs Kills People

Check out this really, really good Volokh Conspiracy post from Ilya Somin, linking to this Washington Post story on the conflict in Afghanistan between fighting the War on Drugs and fighting the War On Terror. The problem is, since 2001, the Taliban have supported poppy production as a means of financing themselves through the worldwide opium black market. Meanwhile, we have supported a program of poppy eradication as part of the international War on Drugs. With the opium trade being one of the few ways for Afghani's to rise out of abject poverty, is it any surprise that our drug policy in Afghanistan has actually lent greater support to the Taliban.

Somin asks one really good question which I'll post here:

Even if you disagree with me on the overall desirability of the War on Drugs, is fighting the Afghan drug trade really more important than fighting the War on Terror? If one gets in the way of the other, should we not sacrifice the campaign against Afghan poppies rather than the campaign against the Taliban and Al Qaeda?

I'll take fighting terrorism, thank you very much.