LONDON, Sept 4 (KUNA) -- Almost half of Britons oppose the policy of destroying poppy fields in Afghanistan as a way to combat the heroin trade in the country, a poll found Tuesday.
The survey, for the London-based think-tank The Senlis Council, also found 80 percent of people would support "Poppy for Medicine" projects where the crop is instead turned into painkillers like morphine.

Researchers at the think-tank claim the current NATO policy of eradicating poppy fields is failing and undermining the military operation by fuelling the Taliban insurgency.
Under the medicine scheme proposed by the Council, poppies would be transformed into morphine powder at a local level to avoid them being used to make heroin.
Farmers would then have the financial incentive to break ties with the Taliban, which the Council said is feeding on the resentment caused by the present policy.

A recent UN report stated that opium farming for heroin in the southern province of Helmand, where most British troops are based, was up by 48 percent on last year.
Senlis said it also carried out the survey in the US, Canada and The Netherlands, all countries that have troops in Afghanistan, with similar results.

The survey also revealed that 74 percent of people in the UK would be opposed to a policy, currently being proposed by some including the US, of spraying poppy fields with chemicals.
The Council also gave a grim update on the current security situation in the country claiming that Taliban insurgents are increasingly infiltrating villages and even cities like Kandahar in the south.

It said the latest evidence was that the Taliban were no longer operating in large groups but splitting into smaller cells which were recruiting support from disaffected farmers and other local people.

The Council also criticised NATO for their lack of help in improving medical facilities for Afghan civilians, who it said were repeatedly being caught up in the fighting.