Alexis, the subject of the opium crop came up before.

I suggested then and still do that our side buy the entire crop at premium prices and convert it to petroleum.

C4 called me deranged. Mark-B came to the rescue noting that opium could produce 124 gallons of petrol per acre (as compared to 48 gallons of ethanol per acre of corn).

Mark’s data would seem to understate the yield considerably. With what I have in mind, the entire plant, not just the opium buds, could be treated with reproductive bacteria to speed and enchance the process.

Care has to be taken that the processing/refining plants do not create a petroleum overhead that eats up the game.
Wind generators, draft animals and even manual labor can be employed to this end.

The project might not produce a free-market return on capital but surely would run at an operating profit.

This may not be the absolutely greates proposal ever made but I have yet to see or hear of one comparable.

Also, I am with you on the War on Drugs. Drug laws are a form of prior restraints. We are fighting a theo-cultural foe whose goal is universal prior restraints. We better find a way not to play into their hands. Sooner the better.