Marijuana Replaces Opium As the Top Crop in Afghanistan

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KHWAJA GHOLAK, Afghanistan - Amid the multiplying frustrations of the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan, the northern province of Balkh has been hailed as a rare and glowing success.

"As a consequence," the United Nations report warned, "farmers who do not cultivate opium poppy may turn to cannabis cultivation."

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Last year Mr. Ayud's parcel was mostly opium poppies. But his crop was wiped out by government officials during a campaign led by the provincial governor, Atta Mohammad Noor, who jailed dozens of growers for disobeying him and personally waded into several poppy fields swinging a stick at the flower stems.

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This year he planted cannabis instead, with some cotton as a fallback in case the government followed through on its promises to eradicate the illicit crop. It was a return to a family tradition, he said. His father and grandfather grew cannabis here.