Russ Carnahan backs morphine-free poppy to counter Afghan heroin boom

WASHINGTON — After a year of escalating Afghan heroin production, calls are mounting for a shift in U.S. policy aimed at turning Afghanistan's poppy into an economic asset by using it to produce medicinal painkillers. -- Backers of the proposal include several leading scientists and economists, as well as some in Congress. -- "You can't just cut off the poppies because that's the livelihood of the people who live there," Carnahan said Thursday. "But providing them with alternative legal markets for pain-relief medication is a way to help cut back on that heroin supply."