So the mighty imperialist powers of Britain, France and the US start a trade war by forcing a drug onto other nations in order to gain economic control. And now those same imperialist nations struggle to deal with the consequences of that trade war two hundred years later, It's come back to bite them on the arse big time. I wonder what the consequences of this new trade war will be for people in our countries 200 years from now? Here is a link to a timeline of the history of opium. http://www.opioids.com/timeline/ Makes for some interesting reading, among the dates are: 1950s U.S. efforts to contain the spread of Communism in Asia involves forging alliances with tribes and warlords inhabiting the areas of the Golden Triangle, (an expanse covering Laos, Thailand and Burma), thus providing accessibility and protection along the southeast border of China. In order to maintain their relationship with the warlords while continuing to fund the struggle against communism, the U.S. and France supply the drug warlords and their armies with ammunition, arms and air transport for the production and sale of opium. The result: an explosion in the availability and illegal flow of heroin into the United States and into the hands of drug dealers and addicts. 1999 Bumper opium crop of 4,600 tons in Afghanistan. UN Drug Control Program estimates around 75% of world's heroin production is of Afghan origin. 2000 Taliban leader Mullah Omar bans poppy cultivation in Afghanistan; United Nations Drug Control Program confirms opium production eradicated. Autumn 2001 War in Afghanistan; heroin floods the Pakistan market. Taleban regime overthrown. October 2002 U.N. Drug Control and Crime Prevention Agency announces Afghanistan has regained its position as the world's largest opium producer. and August 2007 Afghanistan's poppy production rises an estimated 15 percent over 2006. Afghanistan now accounts for 95 percent of the world's opium poppy crop, a 3 percentage point increase over last year. The US State Department's top counternarcotics official Tom Schweich claims that Afghanistan is now "providing close to 95 percent of the world's heroin".
