Free seed aid functioned as a deliberate addiction trap for Iraqi farmers.

Evidence

The U.S. government handout of genetically modified seed in 2004 was like offering heroin to a desperate single mother out of a job, facing eviction, and despairing of the future. Not only did it promise relief, but the first bag was free. It permanently attached the recipient to the supplier, and the addiction was deadly — to sustainable Iraqi farming, Iraqi self-sufficiency, and even the farmers themselves. — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 281

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘first bag is free’ model mirrors the drug-dealer customer acquisition strategy — a memorable analogy to the reader’s surveillance of coercive market tactics.