The Justice of God: Drugs, Helicopters and 911 | 9-11 Review: The Post-9-11 Heroin Boom

9-11 Review: The Post-9-11 Heroin Boom

The Post-9/11 Heroin Boom

Prior to the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, the Taliban government had dramatically cut the production of opium -- the plant whose derivatives are the raw materials for heroin. The U.S.-led invasion, predicated on the idea that Osama bin Ladin had orchestrated the 9/11/01 attack, had the effect of restoring opium production to pre-2001 levels.
Opium from Afghanistan is the source of most of the world's illicit heroin.

Opium poppy cultivation exploded in the hear following the atack, as this graphic by the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime shows.

Most of the world's opium is grown in central Asia. The "Golden Triangle", where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Burma meet, is famous for its production of opium, but in 1992 the production of Afghanistan exceeded it, in the wake of the U.S. attack.

e x c e r p t

title: The Spoils of War: Afghanistan's Multibillion Dollar Heroin Trade

authors: Michel Chossudovsky

Since the US led invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Golden Crescent opium trade has soared. According to the US media, this lucrative contraband is protected by Osama, the Taliban, not to mention, of course, the regional warlords, in defiance of the "international community".

site: globalresearch.ca/ page: globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO404A.html

Heroin's Role in the Illegal and Legal Economies

The heroin trade remains enormously lucrative because of its illegality. Vast profits generated in the illicit drug economy are laundered through legal enterprises, such as many of the world's largest banks.

e x c e r p t

title: Pushing Drugs in a Free Market Economy

authors: David Werner

The financial magazine, Barrons, reporting on these events, spells out the close links between the drug trade and big business. It states, "The 'take' from the drug traffic is approximately $500 billion annually, and these funds are entirely integrated within the US banking system, processed through Morgan Stanley, Chase Manhattan, Citibank, First National. The $500 billion expresses itself in controlling shares in major blue chip US corporations such as Ford Motor Company, AT&T, General Electric. You cannot distinguish the operations of the mob or the drug traffic from the normal workings of finance capital in the United States."

site: www.healthwrights.org page: www.healthwrights.org/articles/PushingDrugs_93.htm

What Is Heroin?

Heroin (diacetyl-morphine) is a semi-synthetic drug of the opioid analgesic class. It is a close cousin of morphine, which is found in the opium poppy (Papaver Somniferum), along with other alkaloids such as codeine. A heroin molecule is a morphine molecule with two acetyl groups added, which allow it to more easily cross the blood-brain barrier. Thus heroin is much more potent than morphine, and can be self-administered more quickly through smoking or injection. These properties incline its users to more readily succumb to addiction than users of other opiates.
Sold in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century in patent medicines, it was eventually designated a Class 1 substance, not recognized to have any medical value. As a black market drug with strong powers to numb pain and produce apathy, heroin has been the center of a violent economy plaguing inner cities in the United States and elsewhere for decades.

Heroin Timeline

page last modified: 2010-12-18

The amount of land in production for opium production fell by 90 percent between 2000 and 2001.

The reduction of opium production in tonnage was even more dramatic the reduction in land under cultivation. Production was quickly restored following the post-9/11/01 US invasion.