Preventing the Taliban from Flooding Communities with Heroin

That the Parliament marks with sadness the reported increase in drug deaths in Scotland to 1,339 during 2020; recognises that the UN Office on Drugs and Crime reportedly estimates that 80% of the world’s heroin and opium supply originates in Afghanistan, which is once again under Taliban rule and, it considers, able to pursue completely unbridled production of opium and heroin that, it believes, will likely lead to its price falling; understands that three of the last four years have seen some of Afghanistan's highest levels of opium production and, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, poppy cultivation increased by 37% last year; further understands with concern that revenue from the heroin and opium trade provides the Taliban with an estimated 60% of its income, and notes the calls on the UK Government to work with its allies and international partners to aid refugees, improve security and prevent the Taliban, and any organised criminal gangs that work with them, from flooding communities in the Cunninghame North constituency, Scotland and across the globe with yet more heroin.