Humfrey Malins

Conservative Party | Woking

Humfrey questions Prime Minister over Afghanistan

3 November 2009

Humfrey Malins, Woking's Member of Parliament, has questioned the Prime Minister over one of the motives for the war in Afghanistan and the progress that had been made on it.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Humfrey said "One of the reasons we are in Afghanistan, I think, is to slow down and preferably stop the flow of heroin on to our streets which causes so much misery and crime, but I believe that that flow is still very fast indeed. Can the Prime Minister give us some sort of progress report, and hopefully some optimism?"

Humfrey, who published a drugs policy pamphlet in 2005 and has been an active campaigner on drugs issues, commented afterwards, "I was pleased to hear the Prime Minister’s interest on this matter- he told me that there are now 20 poppy free provinces in Afghanistan and that 30,000 farmers have been persuaded to convert from poppy production to wheat. This sounds great, but the real result is whether the supply on to our streets has been hit. 90% of heroin in the UK comes from Afghanistan. I welcome the Prime Minister’s comment, but it is high time that we got on top of this issue because heroin production soared after the allied invasion and we must do all that we can to correct this."