Pakistani Islamic scholar says trading in opium is halal(i.e. kosher, legit etc)

Trading in opium, an Islamic right, says Pak scholar:

[World News]: Islamabad, Jan.21 : A renowned Islamic scholar based in Pakistan's remote Khyber Agency has declared that trading of opium is legitimate and an Islamic right.

Delivering a routine sermon on an unlicensed FM radio station, Mufti Munir Shakir, declared the cultivation and trade of opium legitimate on the grounds that it was mostly used in about 98 percent medication.

The Daily Times further quoted him as saying that the use of anything that had the potential of having a positive impact and benifit on human beings could not be declared illegitimate and prohibited in Islam.

The Mufti's sermon assumes significance in the light of the fact that poppy cultivation has increased several times in the tribal belt over last four years. Not only have the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan banned the business and cultivation of opium but almost all religious scholars in both the countries have declared the trade and cultivation of poppy prohibited in Islam.

Original Daily Times article:

Opium trade is halal in Islam: Bara scholar