The Opium Poppy Gets Star Billing in a New History
In “Smoke and Ashes,” Amitav Ghosh sources the colonial roots of a crisis.
By Delia Falconer
In “Smoke and Ashes,” Amitav Ghosh sources the colonial roots of a crisis.
By Delia Falconer
The Defense Department has instructed service members that some poppy seeds can cause drug tests to come back as false positives.
By Amanda Holpuch
The multibillion-dollar trade has survived previous bans. Now, the Taliban are going after solar-powered water pumps to try to dry up poppy crops in the middle of a national economic crisis.
By Bryan Denton, David Zucchino and Yaqoob Akbary
The move will have far-reaching consequences for the many farmers who turned to the illicit crop as a brutal drought and economic crisis have gripped the country.
By Safiullah Padshah and Thomas Gibbons-Neff
The war’s intense conclusion and a drought combined to wipe out the famous Afghan pomegranate harvest in Kandahar Province, during a devastating national economic crisis.
By Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Taimoor Shah
The group has long tapped underground banks and opium to fund Afghanistan’s insurgency. Fixing the nation’s problems will require a lot more than that.
By Alexandra Stevenson
Michael Pollan discusses his psychedelic journey and what highly processed foods are doing to our bodies.
By ‘Sway’
In his newest book, “This Is Your Mind on Plants,” Pollan looks at opium, caffeine and mescaline and the role they have played in human society.
By Rob Dunn
Afghan men in an impoverished border settlement die trying to smuggle opium into Iran, leaving behind loved ones forced to survive on their own.
By David Zucchino and Najim Rahim
China’s crackdown on makers of the drug, which has fueled the U.S. opioid crisis, may have simply created opportunities for crime syndicates elsewhere.
By Hannah Beech and Saw Nang
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