It was opium than, now it is heroin trafficking, and getting a cheap supply for making medical
Morphine too, which if the Afghans were to make at home and export at world prices(there is a very big demand and a short supply of morphine worldwide) would have made them rich, just by itself.
http://www.poppyformedicine.net/modules/need_morphine/html_demand
Now we should talk about
Lithium and its strategic applications for electric cars and mostly electric batteries to run things in the future.
Lithium-ion battery
Lithium-ion battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The ability of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to store up to eight times more energy than conventional designs is getting a boost thanks to a new conducting material that doesn't break down after repeated usage.
Lithium-ion batteries are found everywhere from laptop computers and hybrid cars to electric power grids. The market for them is expected to soar by a factor of more than 80 between 2012 and 2020, rising to $5.8 billion a year.
That's primarily because the batteries are likely to be integrated with gusto to the so-called "smart grid" that increasingly relies on intermittent technologies such as solar and wind energy. Batteries provide a place to store energy when excess is generated and deliver it when it's needed.
"Because of this, lithium ion is set to emerge as the dominant rechargeable battery technology for electrical smart grids during the coming years," Satoru Oyama, principal analyst for Japan electronics research at IHS, said in a statement.
Battery tech improving as demand soars - Future of Tech on msnbc.com
Market for lithium:
"demand from the portable electronics sector will absorb much of the planned production increases in the next decade"
Industrial applications of Lithium:
Ceramics and glass
Electrical and electronics
Lubricating greases
Other chemical and industrial uses
Inorganic lithium salts
Air purification
Optics
Nuclear
Medicine
Lithium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia