The movement of animals, birds and insects result in the propagation of different species of plants to diverse geographies, as these beings serve as carriers of the seeds and pollen which they release in newer environments. The cannabis plant was carried by Asiatics across the land bridge connecting Asia with the Americas about 12,000 years ago and then cultivated there by the Native Americans. We see a similar movement of the opium plant through human carriers from the place where it was discovered initially, Greece, as per my knowledge, by the Romans to Germany and subsequently to the German descendants in Britain. Alexander the Great and his armies may have carried opium to Central Asia and the Near East in the 1st century BC. These areas were, however, traditionally cannabis regions with most communities using cannabis for their medical, intoxicant, industrial and religious needs. The impact of opium carried to these regions by the Greeks under Alexander may have been negligible. The British, and other European colonizers, appear to have carried their opium, and the love for it, as far as China. The British converted the traditional cannabis using people of China of the 17th century to opium. They successfully got the Chinese addicted to opium and convinced them to cultivate opium for them which they then carried back to their homeland. In the process, they managed to completely dislodge cannabis from Chinese culture. The British carried this process of conversion of nations from cannabis to opium all along their land routes from Britain to China. Having succeeded in establishing China as an outsourcing destination for their opium, the British then converted Burma (now Myanmar), India and Afghanistan to opium-producing countries. The methods that the British used to convert nations from cannabis to opium is clearly evident in the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission's report of 1894-95. This report deals primarily with India, but it is obvious that the methods that they tested and fine-tuned in China and Burma were the same that they used to remove cannabis from India, Afghanistan, the Carribean countries and Greece. The methods used to convert people from the harmless, medicinal and intoxicating cannabis were as follows: regulating and curbing the cultivation of cannabis; imposition of licenses, taxes, increasing prices and use of law enforcement; spreading of anti-cannabis myths such as - cannabis was addictive, cannabis caused insanity, only the lowest classes consumed cannabis, cannabis was against the religious sanctions, cannabis users were criminals, and so on. In all these efforts, the British were aided by the upper classes and castes of these nations who were willing to sell their mothers for a slice of the British power pie.
As China increased in power, it became a difficult trade partner for the British need for opium. China started exerting its own integrity leading to the opium wars between China and Britain. This, as well as the annexation of China by Japan during World War II, may have led the British to start developing Afghanistan as their primary opium outsourcing partner. India was anyway by now well and truly in Britain's grasp. Even after conceding independence to India, the British and Indian rulers ensured that India would supply opium to Britain. The conversion of the world's biggest cannabis nation to world's biggest legal opium producing nation today is probably the greatest achievement of the British empire, a fact that is not acknowledged much. To this day, India continues to serve its masters faithfully in this role.
Afghanistan, home to one of the most ancient cultures of the world, has been ravaged systematically by many different invaders over thousands of years. From the Greeks, Mongols, Turks, Arabs, to the modern invaders Russia, US and the UK, the country has been constantly overrun by various people trying to gain control of it. Recently, the extremist group Taliban has been doing all it can to control the country, as has China and India once the western nations left. The primary reason cited for Afghanistan being such a coveted geography is its strategic location, as it is a key part of the mountainous land routes connecting Asia with Europe, and its precious minerals. The primary reason why so many nations covet and try to control Afghanistan, I believe, however, is its opium.
My understanding is that Afghanistan was developed by Britain, possibly with aid from other European nations like Russia, into the world's biggest producer of opium around the beginning and middle of the 20th century. By now, the Chinese were so addicted to their own opium that they had just enough for their own needs, and not enough for the needs of Britain and Europe. The Chinese also recognized the lucrative profits that opium trade offered. Given this situation, Afghanistan was ideal for the west. It was closer to home, connected well by the land routes. It had a climate in which the opium plant thrived. The people of Afghanistan were fierce warriors but simple folk who did not possess the guile of the British, or their wealth and their superior technology. It is most likely that the ruling classes of Afghanistan sold their people out to the British, much like the ruling classes in India. Over time, Afghanistan developed into the world's biggest opium producing nation. This was classified as illegal opium production, unlike in India where it is classified as legal opium production. When the British found it difficult to manage Afghanistan's opium production, they handed it over to the Russians. The Russians controlled it for some time before they handed it over to the descendants of the British, the Americans. The Americans used their guile to enter Afghanistan and maintained control till such time as public pressure forced them to leave. In the meantime, the Americans - the world's biggest market for opium - had developed a much more cost-effective opium cultivation destination much closer to home in Colombia. But none of these countries - the UK, Russia, the US - wanted to give up the goose that laid the golden egg, Afghanistan, so easily. This was because Afghanistan still produced the best opium in the world and in large enough quantities to meet at least part of the opium addiction of the west. So, these countries decided to set up their trained dogs to oversee the opium cultivation for them. They created the Taliban and armed them to oversee and ensure that the opium gardens of the west were protected. When the US left Afghanistan, they left behind sufficient arms and weapons to ensure that the Taliban could control the people of the country and keep opium production steady. They also had the neighborhood watchdogs in Iran and Pakistan to ensure that the status quo was maintained. In return, Pakistan got its opium as well as its weapons. Iran, while posturing to be anti-US, continued to get its share of opium from Afghanistan and served as distributor for the Middle East and Europe. Raw opium flows from Afghanistan both westward and eastward. Westward, it flows through Iran into the markets of the Middle East and Europe. Eastward it flows through Pakistan to the processing center in India.
Today, the illegal cultivation of opium globally is, of course, mainly concentrated in Myanmar, Afghanistan, Colombia and now Mexico. These countries dominate cultivation. UNODC says, in its World Drug Report 2020, that 'Opium is illicitly produced in some 50 countries worldwide, although the three countries where most opium is produced have accounted for about 97 per cent of global opium production over the past five years. Afghanistan, the country where most opium is produced, which has accounted for approximately 84 per cent of global opium production over the past five years, supplies markets in neighbouring countries, Europe, the Near and Middle East, South Asia and Africa and to a small degree North America (notably Canada) and Oceania. Countries in SouthEast Asia – mostly Myanmar (some 7 per cent of global opium production) and, to a lesser extent, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (about 1 per cent of global opium production) – supply markets in East and South-East Asia and Oceania. Countries in Latin America – mostly Mexico (6 per cent of global opium production) and, to a far lesser extent, Colombia and Guatemala (less than 1 per cent of the global total) – account for most of the heroin supply to the United States and supply the comparatively small heroin markets of South America.' Until recently, Afghanistan was the leading producer of illegal opium. UNODC states that 'In line with the dominance of the opium production in Afghanistan, quantities of heroin and morphine seized related to Afghan opiate production accounted for some 84 per cent of the global total in 2018, a slight decrease from 88 per cent in 2017, the year of the bumper harvest in the country. Most of the heroin found in Europe, Central Asia/ Transcaucasia and Africa is derived from opium of Afghan origin, accounting for 100 per cent of all mentions in the responses to the annual report questionnaire by countries in Central Asia/Transcaucasia, 96 per cent in Europe and 87 per cent in Africa over the period 2014–2018.' Myanmar, in December 2023, upstaged Afghanistan as the largest illegal opium producer. In Myanmar, the army has taken control over opium cultivation, working in conjunction with Chinese entities to ensure that the product meets the right user. All these countries create smoke screens, in the form of terrorism and conflict, to establish control over opium supplies. In this way the control of opium, much like the control of petroleum, lies in the hands of the global rich and powerful. With these moves, the rich ensure that their global supply of opium never stops. The global opioid pharmaceutical industry - both legal and illegal - sources a large part of its raw material from Afghanistan. China and India appear to have taken a stranglehold on their own opium production, directing the produce to their legal pharmaceutical industry through tight regulation. Both these countries, however, appear to pale in comparison to Afghanistan's opium production capability. Hence it is no surprise that Afghanistan cannot shake off its invaders and controllers.
Opium cultivation, I believe, is managed by global opium cartels, much like oil production is managed by the oil cartels. I believe that the Taliban and the military ruling Myanmar are just puppets being instructed by the opium cartel based out of North America, Europe, Iran, India and China in terms of how much opium to produce. Through this management, these entities determine how much opium must be cultivated in which source country, so as to keep the supply and prices of opium within their desired ranges, ensuring that the rich get their opium, and also get rich getting their opium. UNODC says that 'Despite global opium production in 2018 being less than in 2017, there have been no indications to date of a shortage in the supply of heroin to the respective consumer markets. In 2018 and 2019, both opium and heroin prices declined in the main opium production areas in Afghanistan, with opium farmgate prices falling by an average of 37 per cent (on a year earlier) in 2018 and by 24 per cent in 2019, while high-quality heroin prices fell by an average of 11 per cent in 2018 and by 27 per cent in 2019 in Afghanistan. Due to the bumper opium harvest of 2017, opium prices showed significant declines at an earlier stage (starting in 2017) than did heroin prices (basically starting in 2018), suggesting that it may have taken some time for clandestine heroin manufacture to adjust to the overall greater availability of opium before expanding, as later reflected in lower heroin prices. At the same time, data also show that, following two years of decreased opium production as compared with 2017, the downward trend in drug prices came to a halt, in the case of opium, in June 2019, and a few months later, in August 2019, in the case of heroin as well.' It says that 'Despite a long-term upward trend, the global area under opium poppy cultivation declined by 17 per cent in 2018 and then by 30 per cent in 2019, falling to an estimated 240,800 ha. Declines in the area under cultivation were reported in both Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2018 and 2019. Despite the recent declines, the global area under opium poppy cultivation is nevertheless still substantially larger than a decade ago and at similar level of the global area under coca cultivation.' The falling prices of opium and heroin, due to the bumper harvests in Afghanistan fueled by increasing poppy cultivation by farmers, appears to have prompted the global opium cartel to reinstate the Taliban as the puppet rulers of Afghanistan so as to ensure tighter regulation of poppy cultivation. The Taliban promptly cracked down on poppy cultivation. In fact, it did such a good job that Myanmar has now taken over as the biggest illegal opium producing nation in the world in 2023. This is most likely a matter of optimum pricing and logistics, though to the people of Afghanistan and the world, it will appear as if the Taliban is like a loving father who is concerned about the well-being of his children, even as he keeps the girl child from going to school so that she can be a slave to the men in the house.
I suspect that the global opium cartel seamlessly switches opium supplies between legal and illegal markets, depending on the demand for the various opium derivatives, available supply, and the potential for profit. So, if there is a shortage of heroin in the illegal market, it will be diverted from the legal sources to meet the demand. Similarly, if there is a shortage of morphine in the legal pharmaceutical market, it will be diverted from the illicit market to meet demand. This seamless interplay between legal and illegal sources and markets ensures that demand, supply and prices are kept at an optimum to ensure maximum profit.
One of the best ways to traffic opium between countries is to send a shipment across through unwitting carriers and then inform the authorities in the recipient country about it. The authorities seize the opium and utilize it for their own purposes. This is probably the most cost-effective way as one need not pay the carrier. Besides this, international drug control agencies and the public are impressed with the action taken and nobody then asks any further questions about it, including what happens with the seized opium. This is how Iran, Pakistan, Turkey and India get their hands on the illegal opium cultivated in Afghanistan. UNODC, in its World Drug Report 2020, states that 'Almost 70 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine (the two main internationally trafficked opiates) seized in 2018 were intercepted in Asia, mostly in South-West Asia. The two subregions surrounding Afghanistan, South-West Asia and Central Asia, together accounted for more than 56 per cent of the global quantity of heroin and morphine seized. Despite the decline in 2018, the overall trend in seizures of heroin and morphine in that subregion continued to be an upward one over the period 2008–2018. South-West Asia continued to account for the majority of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized globally in 2018 (close to 56 per cent), with the largest quantities seized being reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan.' UNODC further states that 'The largest quantities of both opium and morphine seized were reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan, while seizures reported by other countries remained comparatively modest. The largest total quantity of heroin seized by a country in 2018 was that seized by the Islamic Republic of Iran (for the first time since 2014), followed by Turkey, the United States, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Belgium.' It further says that 'The largest quantities of opiates continued to be seized in South-West Asia in 2018, accounting for 98 per cent of the global quantity of opium seized, 97 per cent of the global quantity of morphine seized and 38 per cent of the global quantity of heroin seized that year (i.e., equivalent to 70 per cent of all opiates seized globally as expressed in heroin equivalents). Overall, 690 tons of opium, 42 tons of morphine and 37 tons of heroin were seized in South-West Asia in 2018.' The myriad crisscrossing of opium - in its raw, processed and finished states - happens between numerous countries. Seizure happens mostly in neighbouring countries to the source. UNODC reports that 'The quantities of opium and morphine seized continued to be concentrated in just a few countries in 2018, with three countries accounting for 98 per cent of the global quantity of opium seized and 97 per cent of the global quantity of morphine seized. By contrast, seizures of heroin continue to be more widespread, with 54 per cent of the global quantity of heroin seized in 2018 accounted for by the three countries with greatest seizures.' UNODC says that 'The opiate seized in the largest quantity in 2018 continued to be opium (704 tons), followed by heroin (97 tons) and morphine (43 tons). Expressed in heroin equivalents, however, heroin continued to be seized in larger quantities than opium or morphine. Globally, 47 countries reported opium seizures, 30 countries reported morphine seizures and 103 countries reported heroin seizures in 2018, suggesting that trafficking in heroin continues to be more widespread in geographical terms than trafficking in opium or morphine.' The International Narcotics Control Bureau (INCB) reports that 'In 2018, the main countries reporting utilization of opium for the extraction of alkaloids were the Islamic Republic of Iran (511.8 tons, or 56.3 tons of morphine equivalent), India (138.5 tons, or 15.2 tons in morphine equivalent) and Japan (41.6 tons, or 4.6 tons in morphine equivalent). The opium reported as utilized by the Islamic Republic of Iran originated from seized material.' Finally, the best heroin reaches the richest customers in the world, usually in North America and Europe. The richest people in the world get the best product - pure heroin. As one climbs down the social and economic ladder, the product available becomes more and more close to the raw opium. So, the next rung of the rich and powerful get morphine, hydrocodone and oxycodone. A lower rung gets tramadol and codeine. Among the lowest rungs, opium as raw product - in paste or straw form - is consumed.
Iran and Pakistan play interesting roles in this game of global opium addiction that has Afghanistan at the center. These countries function, I believe, as two-way valves, besides playing the watchman supervising Afghan opium production. When it suits their needs, Iran and Pakistan allow opium to flow freely through them. Through Iran it flows into the Middle East and Europe, with Iran taking its share of opium and revenue. Through Pakistan, opium flows into the processing units in India from where it goes out to the world as legal pharmaceutical opioids, with Pakistan getting its share of opium and revenue, besides arms and defense support from the US. UNODC reports that 'The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that 75 per cent of the morphine and 75 per cent of the heroin seized on its territory in 2018 had been trafficked via Pakistan, while the remainder had been smuggled directly into the country from Afghanistan. Typically, heroin is then smuggled to Turkey (70 per cent of all the heroin seized in the Islamic Republic of Iran in both 2016 and 2017) and from there along the Balkan route to Western and Central Europe, either via the western branch of the route via Bulgaria to various western Balkan countries or, to a lesser extent, via the eastern branch of the route via Bulgaria and then to Romania and Hungary, before reaching the main consumer markets in Western and Central Europe'.
The processing of opium is complex, with different stages of processing being done in different parts of the world, often far removed from the source regions cultivating the plant. For example, raw opium is procured legally or illegally from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia, Mexico and India and processed into morphine in France, heroin in the UK, tramadol in India, etc. The source countries also process opium into heroin or morphine.
There are dedicated routes through land, sea, and increasingly air (especially through the use of armed forces aircraft), which supply the processed opium to North America, Europe, Africa, the Far East and Oceania. UNODC says that 'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the so-called “Balkan route”, along which opiates from Afghanistan are shipped to Iran (Islamic Republic of), Turkey, the Balkan countries and to various destinations in Western and Central Europe. Not counting seizures made in Afghanistan itself, countries along the Balkan route accounted for 58 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2018. A further 8 per cent of those global seizures were reported by countries in Western and Central Europe, whose markets are supplied to a great degree by heroin and morphine that is trafficked along the Balkan route'. Besides the Balkan route, heroin flows from the Middle East into Europe by sea as well. UNODC says that 'In contrast to Western and Central Europe as a whole, which continues to be supplied mainly by heroin trafficked along the Balkan route by land, trafficking to Belgium in 2018 to a large extent (98 per cent) took the form of maritime shipments departing from the Islamic Republic of Iran or Turkey. Similarly, trafficking to Italy was characterized by maritime shipments in 2018 (61 per cent of the total quantity seized by customs authorities), with the bulk of seizures in 2018 having departed from the Islamic Republic of Iran in containers, followed by shipments by air (37 per cent), often departing from the Middle East (Qatar) or Africa (South Africa), while heroin shipments destined for France typically transited the Netherlands and Belgium in 2018'. It appears that it takes about a year for harvested opium to be converted into heroin, and to finally reach the markets. UNODC reports that 'While the strongest increase in the quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2017 was reported in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (the same year as the bumper opium harvest reported in Afghanistan), the strongest increase in 2018 was reported in Western and Central Europe (89 per cent). This suggests that it may take a year from when opium is harvested in Afghanistan until it is manufactured into the heroin that ends up on the streets of Western and Central Europe. There were increases in heroin and morphine seizures in Europe in the countries along the Balkan route in 2018, although most of the increase was due to an increase in the quantities of heroin and morphine seized in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, in France and Italy.'
As if all this was not bad enough, we see that due to the huge global demand for painkillers and stimulants - and the artificial shortages created by cannabis prohibition and opium control - the emergence of dangerous synthetics from the pharmacist's lab such as methamphetamine and fentanyl. These synthetic products do not have a dependency on nature and so can be churned out in vast quantities from almost anywhere, anytime. Not only are they difficult to detect and control, their action on the human body and the natural environment is devastating since they have not gone through the natural selection process of evolution that plants like opium, coca, and cannabis have gone through. Fentanyl and methamphetamine are finding their way to not just the opium and cocaine addicted elites, they are finding their way to all levels of society and killing people (and the rest of the natural world) across the world.
Even as the West and China embraced their opium addictions - using Afghanistan, Myanmar and Colombia as their outsourcing destinations for the production of opium - the US and Europe started developing a taste for the stimulant, cocaine. Cocaine was made famous by such noted figures as Sigmund Freud in the 19th century but its use really started taking off with the addition of cocaine to the bouquet of offerings provided by the drug cartels of South America. The problem with cocaine is that it is only cultivated in South America. This presents a problem of severe supply shortage for the elites of the world who consider the use of cocaine as one of their distinguishing features that separates them from the low-class masses. To solve this problem, methamphetamine was invented. Meth, as methamphetamine is also called in short, can be prepared in a lab anywhere in the world with ingredients that are freely available the world over. Meth is as good a stimulant as cocaine, even though it is probably much more lethal. The knowledge of manufacture of methamphetamine that was perfected in the US was transferred to the drug cartels of South America. US soldiers - the modern-day pollinators - carried this knowledge of methamphetamine manufacture to Vietnam because they could not afford cocaine like their generals and politicians who sent them there after creating a war in a distant land. The US soldiers transferred their knowledge of methamphetamine manufacture to the people of the far east and also got enough people addicted to it to start a manufacturing process there. When US soldiers went to Iraq and Afghanistan, they seeded the people in these countries with the habit of using methamphetamine and also trained them in its manufacture. Today, we see Afghanistan has added methamphetamine to its bouquet of outsourcing services in addition to opium. Methamphetamine use is now, along with the use of opium, one of the addictions plaguing the people of Afghanistan.
Initially the countries that led to the rise of methamphetamine appear to have been the US, Iran and China, possibly due to a shortage of cocaine and heroin in their local markets needed to meet increasing demand. But gradually, these countries seem to have outsourced manufacture to neighboring countries, who seem to have gladly stepped in to take up manufacturing on industrial scales, as against the numerous small-scale operations that dominated manufacture earlier. This appears to be a concerted move by those involved, in order to bring in efficiencies of cost, scale and distribution in the methamphetamine market. The US outsourced its methamphetamine manufacture to primarily Mexico, China to primarily Thailand and Myanmar, and Iran to primarily Afghanistan. The US, however, with its gluttony for stimulants, appears to have continued with its own manufacturing, in addition to outsourcing to Mexico. UNODC reports that 'Similar to the situation in the United States, where the manufacture of methamphetamine declined while increasing in neighbouring Mexico, both China and Iran (Islamic Republic of) reported declining domestic production, reflected in the decreasing numbers of methamphetamine laboratories dismantled in recent years, going hand in hand with the expansion of methamphetamine manufacture in their neighbouring countries. Indeed, by 2018 the Islamic Republic of Iran reported that most of the methamphetamine found on its territory originated in Afghanistan and was trafficked either from there directly or via Pakistan. Similarly, China reported that methamphetamine seized in recent years has originated primarily in Myanmar. In contrast to many other countries, however, the marked declines in the domestic manufacture of methamphetamine in China appear to have more than outweighed any increase in clandestine manufacture and imports from neighbouring countries. This is revealed in the decline in methamphetamine found in the wastewater in cities across China, with wastewater-based estimates suggesting a fall in methamphetamine consumption amounts of 26 per cent over the period 2014 –2018.' UNODC reports that 'Much of the methamphetamine production in these subregions was originally intended for exports to the rapidly growing markets of East and South-East Asia, but domestic markets also appear to have started to emerge in the Near and Middle East/ South-West Asia in recent years. Of 15 reporting countries in these subregions, 12 countries reported the use of methamphetamine by 2018 (or the latest year for which data are available). In the absence of scientific data for the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, qualitative information on trends in methamphetamine use reported by national authorities to UNODC give an indication of the threat experienced by the region. National authorities have reported a clear upward trend in methamphetamine use in those subregions. Methamphetamine appears to have emerged in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia as the main ATS used in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2009– 2018) as well as in Iraq (2016 and 2017), Lebanon (2014–2017), Bahrein (2016), Afghanistan (2015 and 2016), Israel (2014 and 2015) and Kuwait (2003, 2009, 2013'.
The geographical spread of methamphetamine manufacture has been driven by the easy availability of raw materials as stated earlier. UNODC reports that 'Countries identified as significant source countries for methamphetamine shipments in Asia in the period 2014–2018 included Myanmar, followed by China, Thailand, India and Iran (Islamic Republic of). Clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in Asia seems to be still largely based on the use of pseudoephedrine or ephedrine as precursors, although reports from Afghanistan suggest that ephedrine is extracted from ephedra plant material and used as a precursor for methamphetamine. The authorities in Myanmar and Thailand have reported the seizure of increasing quantities of sodium cyanide and benzyl cyanide in recent years. These substances can be used for synthesizing P-2-P, which is then used to manufacture either amphetamine or methamphetamine.' It also states that 'While the quantities of methamphetamine seized have increased rapidly over the past decade, seizures of internationally controlled chemicals used in the manufacture of methamphetamine have fluctuated over the years and showed a clear increase only in 2018, when methamphetamine precursor seizures almost tripled compared with 2017. The marked increase was the result of record quantities of P-2-P linked to methamphetamine manufacture in North America being seized – an almost ninefold increase – and the global quantities of ephedrine seized increasing almost fivefold. By contrast, the reported number of dismantled laboratories continued to decline, from 10,600 methamphetamine laboratories dismantled in 2010 to close to 3,700 in 2017 and less than 2,100 in 2018. A possible explanation of the phenomenon of an expanding market going hand in hand with fewer and fewer laboratories being dismantled could be a shift towards operating fewer but larger laboratories in parallel with a general shift in production to countries with comparatively limited interdiction capacities.' It further states that 'In contrast to previous decades, when methamphetamine was primarily manufactured from ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, nowadays more than half of seized precursor chemicals linked to the manufacture of methamphetamine are P-2-P and/or its precursor chemicals. There is, however, a significant geographical divide. Most methamphetamine production in Asia, Oceania and Africa – and possibly some in Europe – continues to be based primarily on ephedrine and pseudoephedrine as the key precursor chemicals, while manufacture of methamphetamine in North America is now primarily based on P-2-P and its precursor chemicals. In some instances, precursor chemicals for the manufacture of P-2-P also seem to have been used in the manufacture of methamphetamine in Western Europe.' The report says ''Regarding precursor chemicals, it has to be taken into account that increasing quantities of methamphetamine are now being produced from pre-precursors that are not under international control; for example, substances such as benzaldehyde and nitroethane are used in the clandestine manufacture of P-2-P, in both North America and Europe. Similarly, benzyl chloride and sodium cyanide are used in the clandestine manufacture of phenylacetic acid, which is also used to manufacture P-2-P, the main precursor used in methamphetamine manufacture in North America.' As the traditional precursors have been gradually brought under international control, methamphetamine manufacturers have innovated to create new precursors in the lab which do not fall under international control. Regarding this, UNODC reports that 'Many of the chemicals most commonly used as precursors to synthesize drugs such as amphetamine, methamphetamine and “ecstasy” have been placed under international control. Traffickers and manufacturers have sought alternatives – not only less well-controlled substances but also chemicals specifically designed to circumvent controls, known as “designer precursors”.'
So, the outsourcing of methamphetamine manufacture from the initial source countries - US, Iran and China - to first the neighbouring countries - Mexico, Afghanistan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand - was enabled by the dismantling of small manufacturing facilities and the creation of large-scale manufacturing in the neighbouring countries. The involvement of the drug cartels and the easy availability of alternate precursors further enabled this expansion to an increasing number of countries. UNODC reports that 'In Afghanistan, seizures of methamphetamine have steadily risen since 2014, when manufacturing seems to have started. But the amount seized in the first six months of 2019 – 657 kg – signals a huge leap on the previous year. The large seizures effected in other countries of methamphetamine thought to originate in Afghanistan also suggest that production in that country is rising fast.'
One of the fundamental problems is that the countries and elites most addicted to opium, the biggest consumers of opium, do not have climatic conditions suitable for growing their own opium. So, they need to take countries like Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar as hostage and install watchdogs in the form of militia and drug cartels to oversee the production and ensure that the produce is not diverted. In addition to this, these elite opium addicts want their opium processed into products like methadone, morphine, oxycodone, heroin, etc., that they can consume in the form of pills, powders and injections, like babies who can only feed on highly processed food. In the course of processing natural opium into these products, the potency of opium increases drastically, as does the price. The high potency processed opium is even more addictive and lethal than raw opium. The opium-growing countries, as well as the coca-growing countries, have long histories of using these plants in natural form. The indigenous communities of these countries knew how to use the natural form of opium and coca and to live with it, with minimum damage to society and the environment. Since the elites control and dictate opium policy in the world, the indigenous communities in opium (and coca) producing countries rarely get to see the opium (or coca). The people of Afghanistan live in severe poverty and oppression while the profits from opium cultivation go to the elites who consume and trade in it.
The people of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran are completely bamboozled by the deception their governments use to work with the US, UK and Russia. The primary weapon of deception used to subjugate the people of Afghanistan is religion. This is the weapon that is used in most Islamic countries. The clerics whose word is law work closely with the upper-class elites who, in turn, work closely with the leaders of the opium-loving nations of the west. The clerics tell the people that cannabis is evil, smoking is evil, intoxication is evil. The clerics weaponize the people against free-thinking through hate speeches and recruit youth into the military organizations that rule the country with weapons supplied by the west. The people shun cannabis, and even opium, so that there is no diminishing of the supplies to the west. If the people try opium, they get addicted to it and thus become all the more invested in its cultivation and protection against the threat of cannabis, which can release the people from all the chains of addiction and psychological, medical and economic poverty. Occasionally, the ruling militia in Afghanistan will make some noises to show the people that it is against opium cultivation, or possibly to adjust production in line with global demand and prices as dictated by the opium cartel.
As with the use of religion to enslave and oppress the people of Afghanistan, the projection of cannabis as a drug that is as harmful as opium, or even more, is another factor behind this crisis in Afghanistan and the rest of the world. Cannabis is vastly safer and more beneficial to humans and other living beings than opium. There needs to be an increase in the awareness among the public about the benefits of cannabis and the harms of opium. But when the entire power structure - the physicians, political leaders, religious leaders, media, and so on - play up the harms of cannabis, and play down the harms of opium, most people fear cannabis and play into the hands of the opium cartels of the world. The treatment of cannabis on par with opium, or as even worse, is one of the primary reasons why the world faces the opium crisis that it does today. Most people in the world today cannot even differentiate between opium and cannabis, clubbing the two together, while glorifying the dangerous legal drugs alcohol and tobacco. The arrival of the synthetic drugs fentanyl and methamphetamine, which closely resemble heroin and cocaine respectively, has only served to further complicate matters in the minds of the gullible majority. In all this, cannabis emerges as the villain-in-chief, when, in fact, it is the solution to all the problems created by these alternatives that have moved in to take the space created by its prohibition. An example of the media treating opium and cannabis in the same way is the report from The Hindu which states that 'Of the 6.7 million users, 4.25 million were drug dependent. Charas, a resin obtained from marijuana was used by four million people and heroin by 860,000. In addition injecting drug users numbered 430,000. A challenge for Pakistan is the very limited treatment centres, especially for women, he said. With a high number of drug dependents, treatment and specialist intervention was available to less than 30,000 users a year. While poppy is grown in Afghanistan drugs are trafficked through Pakistan. A lot of the heroin and opiates are found here because it is at a crossroads of a big complicated business network as it goes to Europe, Asia and North America.'
The opium-producing regions are also highly suitable for producing some of the best cannabis in the world. Afghanistan produces some of the finest cannabis in the world. Afghan hashish, or charas as it is called in India - the resin derived from the cannabis flower - was legendary until the 19th century. Natural cannabis, of which Afghanistan possesses some of the best varieties, is smuggled by drug cartels to Europe where it is sold at high prices in the thriving medical and recreational cannabis markets. Afghanistan produces the second highest quantity of cannabis resin after Morocco, according to UNODC. Afghanistan was one of the primary sources of cannabis resin to India and, I suspect, a good part of Europe. Cannabis, which is a much better painkiller than opium, and a much better stimulant than methamphetamine, primarily because it is non-addictive and non-lethal, is consistently kept prohibited in Afghanistan as its legalization will overturn the entire outsourcing network for opium and methamphetamine. It will also break the chains that the clerics and the militia hold over the people. It will bring great economic prosperity to Afghanistan and remove the dependency of Afghanistan on the weapons and economic aid provided by such nations as the US, UK, China and India. For this reason, it is of paramount importance to keep cannabis prohibited and the people chained down.
The saddest part of all this is that Afghanistan has been reduced to shambles with terrorist organizations and invading nations using the lucrative heroin trade to fund their various activities. The general population has been reduced to living in war-torn conditions with not a day passing without reports of violence. Heroin has seeped into the society and culture of this country. Where people in earlier times used relatively harmless natural opium, now low grade and highly adulterated heroin is the recreational drug of choice among the masses. The reuse of syringes has fueled a HIV epidemic that is largely unreported and untreated. To make matters worse, if that is even possible, Afghanistan is now emerging as a primary source of methamphetamine that is supplied to Iran and the Middle East. The Lancet reports that in Afghanistan 'In 2010, opioid use and dependence made the largest contribution to morbidity and mortality from illicit drug use, contributing to premature death from drug overdose and suicide, and in those who inject these drugs, infection with HIV and other blood-borne viruses. Dependence also produced considerable disability. Afghanistan has a tradition of opium smoking, and has long been a major source of illegal opiates for eastern and western Europe. In the past decade, Afghans have also reportedly begun to inject heroin and use pharmaceutical opioids. These developments have been attributed to increased heroin availability, civil disruption from insurgency, and the crowding of displaced Afghans into urban areas where heroin and pharmaceutical opioids are readily available.'
The people of Afghanistan suffer through all this as both natural opium and cannabis are prohibited for local use. The most obvious solution to this problem would be the legalization of both natural cannabis and opium in the country. The farmers could grow it legally, the people could use it in its natural form for recreation and medicine, as has been done traditionally for thousands of years, and the economy would benefit vastly and become sustainable through the global legal trade of opium and cannabis. Opium, however, has a limited amount of uses when compared to the highly versatile cannabis. So, if a choice was to be made, I would choose the legalization of cannabis first for Afghanistan and then the legalization of opium.
Cannabis rivals opium in its painkilling abilities. Besides that, cannabis has a host of other health benefits that opium cannot even come close to. Cannabis is also not addictive. Cannabis rivals cocaine in its properties as a stimulant. The elite opium addicts of the world fear cannabis because they think that legalizing cannabis will eat into their sources of opium supply. In reality, cannabis can exist side by side with opium and even mitigate the harms of opium. The most obvious thing to do would be to legalize opium and regulate it like tobacco and alcohol, with emphasis on the consumption of opium in its natural forms. Tight regulation should be practiced where opium is processed into the synthetic products that make it more potent and lethal. In addition to this, cannabis must be completely legalized so that it can be grown like any other natural agricultural crop. By doing this, natural opium will be available to meet the huge global demand, especially among the vast majority of the people of the world, its poor. Even more than this, cannabis will be available to all so that they have an alternative to opium. Most people in the world have greater intelligence than the elite opium addicts of the world. Most people know the harms of opium and the benefits of cannabis. That is why when neither opium nor cannabis were regulated the vast majority of the people of the world chose cannabis over opium. Doing all this will bring down the global demand and market for the dangerous synthetics methamphetamine and fentanyl.
By taking steps to legalize and regulate opium, and to completely legalize cannabis without any form of regulation, countries like Afghanistan will be able to grow and trade in these produce and revive their economies in sustainable ways, besides improving the health of their people. The vast amounts of money spent in the subterfuge that currently occurs with opium and cannabis trafficking - the political maneuvers, the militia, drug cartels, drug enforcement, excise and so on - can all be eliminated. The rich countries that depend the most on these produce can import them legally and not rob countries like Afghanistan. Cannabis can revolutionize not just medicine and intoxicant in Afghanistan, but also can spawn a whole plethora of sustainable industries in the areas of agriculture, fabrics and textiles, construction, biofuels, food, beverages, wellness, tourism, biodegradable plastics, sustainable paper and packaging, and so on. Sustainable cannabis industries can provide employment for vast numbers of the people of Afghanistan. If the decision makers of Afghanistan recognized the value of the cannabis that the country possesses, in terms of medicinal, recreational, business, industrial, agricultural, environmental and economic value, as well as the reasons for the suffering of the people, they would do well to legalize the plant, allow farmers to grow it and allow its international trade to vastly boost the Afghan economy. It would lift the Afghan people out of the mire of war, heroin and methamphetamine addiction, revolutionize jobs, revive sustainable industry and vastly boost public health.
But then legalization of cannabis would also cut into the funding of terror networks. It would reduce arms and heroin trade and the incentive for international armies to station themselves in the country in the name of providing security and rehabilitation for the people. It would cut into the sourcing of opium for global pharmaceutical giants and the illegal heroin industry. It would mean the end of all conflicts which are kept alive only to hide the underlying exploitation of the land and its people for the big businesses of the world like the drug and arms industries. Now, which Afghan government would be willing to do something like that, to try and uproot all these diseases that have taken deep root in the Afghan nation, when it could mean a stop in the inflow of alms in the form of international aid that these so called well-wishers of the country provide and which flows into the pockets of the elite leaving the vast majority of the people worse off than they were? It would need to be a truly special government, one that really cared for the people, the land, the environment and believed in the Afghan nation, peace and a sustainable world.
Since the elites of the world have an insatiable addiction for opium and cocaine, and a possibly even greater greed to profit from opium and cocaine, they screw themselves and everybody else through all the orifices possible. What should we call this behaviour of the elite opium addicts of the world - infantile or imbecile or insane? It is possibly a combination of all three.
In December 2020, the UN voted to remove cannabis from its most restricted schedule of the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Cannabis does however still remain in its least restrictive schedule, thus more or less maintaining the current status quo around cannabis prohibition and access for the common man. This one move by the UN itself should be sufficient to bring about the recreational legalization of cannabis in every nation and an overhaul of national drug laws. It must be noted that in most places where cannabis legalization has happened it took the efforts of the people who mobilized themselves through grassroots-level movements to bring about this change. Left to lawmakers legalization would have been impossible, as the main interests of lawmakers concern the protection of the big industries opposed to cannabis such as pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals, medical, alcohol and tobacco. For something that truly benefits the people, the people themselves have had to make the change.
Related articles
Listed below are articles taken from various media related to the above subject. Words in italics are the thoughts of your truly at the time of reading the article.
'Of the 6.7 million users, 4.25 million were drug dependent. Charas, a resin obtained from marijuana was used by four million people and heroin by 860,000. In addition injecting drug users numbered 430,000.
A challenge for Pakistan is the very limited treatment centres, especially for women, he said. With a high number of drug dependents, treatment and specialist intervention was available to less than 30,000 users a year.
While poppy is grown in Afghanistan drugs are trafficked through Pakistan.
A lot of the heroin and opiates are found here because it is at a crossroads of a big complicated business network as it goes to Europe, Asia and North America.'
'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the Balkan route, which takes heroin from Afghanistan to markets in Western and Central Europe via Iran (the Islamic Republic of), Turkey and the Balkans. This route accounted for 58 per cent of the heroin seizures made outside Afghanistan in 2018.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Opium is illicitly produced in some 50 countries worldwide, although the three countries where most opium is produced have accounted for about 97 per cent of global opium production over the past five years. Afghanistan, the country where most opium is produced, which has accounted for approximately 84 per cent of global opium production over the past five years, supplies markets in neighbouring countries, Europe, the Near and Middle East, South Asia and Africa and to a small degree North America (notably Canada) and Oceania. Countries in SouthEast Asia – mostly Myanmar (some 7 per cent of global opium production) and, to a lesser extent, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (about 1 per cent of global opium production) – supply markets in East and South-East Asia and Oceania. Countries in Latin America – mostly Mexico (6 per cent of global opium production) and, to a far lesser extent, Colombia and Guatemala (less than 1 per cent of the global total) – account for most of the heroin supply to the United States and supply the comparatively small heroin markets of South America.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Despite a long-term upward trend, the global area under opium poppy cultivation declined by 17 per cent in 2018 and then by 30 per cent in 2019, falling to an estimated 240,800 ha. Declines in the area under cultivation were reported in both Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2018 and 2019. Despite the recent declines, the global area under opium poppy cultivation is nevertheless still substantially larger than a decade ago and at similar level of the global area under coca cultivation' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Despite global opium production in 2018 being less than in 2017, there have been no indications to date of a shortage in the supply of heroin to the respective consumer markets. In 2018 and 2019, both opium and heroin prices declined in the main opium production areas in Afghanistan, with opium farmgate prices falling by an average of 37 per cent (on a year earlier) in 2018 and by 24 per cent in 2019, while high-quality heroin prices fell by an average of 11 per cent in 2018 and by 27 per cent in 2019 in Afghanistan. Due to the bumper opium harvest of 2017, opium prices showed significant declines at an earlier stage (starting in 2017) than did heroin prices (basically starting in 2018), suggesting that it may have taken some time for clandestine heroin manufacture to adjust to the overall greater availability of opium before expanding, as later reflected in lower heroin prices. At the same time, data also show that, following two years of decreased opium production as compared with 2017, the downward trend in drug prices came to a halt, in the case of opium, in June 2019, and a few months later, in August 2019, in the case of heroin as well.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The largest quantities of both opium and morphine seized were reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan, while seizures reported by other countries remained comparatively modest. The largest total quantity of heroin seized by a country in 2018 was that seized by the Islamic Republic of Iran (for the first time since 2014), followed by Turkey, the United States, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Belgium.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Almost 70 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine (the two main internationally trafficked opiates) seized in 2018 were intercepted in Asia, mostly in South-West Asia. The two subregions surrounding Afghanistan, South-West Asia and Central Asia, together accounted for more than 56 per cent of the global quantity of heroin and morphine seized
Despite the decline in 2018, the overall trend in seizures of heroin and morphine in that subregion continued to be an upward one over the period 2008–2018. South-West Asia continued to account for the majority of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized globally in 2018 (close to 56 per cent), with the largest quantities seized being reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the so-called “Balkan route”, along which opiates from Afghanistan are shipped to Iran (Islamic Republic of), Turkey, the Balkan countries and to various destinations in Western and Central Europe. Not counting seizures made in Afghanistan itself, countries along the Balkan route accounted for 58 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2018. A further 8 per cent of those global seizures were reported by countries in Western and Central Europe, whose markets are supplied to a great degree by heroin and morphine that is trafficked along the Balkan route' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'In line with the dominance of the opium production in Afghanistan, quantities of heroin and morphine seized related to Afghan opiate production accounted for some 84 per cent of the global total in 2018, a slight decrease from 88 per cent in 2017, the year of the bumper harvest in the country. Most of the heroin found in Europe, Central Asia/ Transcaucasia and Africa is derived from opium of Afghan origin, accounting for 100 per cent of all mentions in the responses to the annual report questionnaire by countries in Central Asia/Transcaucasia, 96 per cent in Europe and 87 per cent in Africa over the period 2014–2018.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that 75 per cent of the morphine and 75 per cent of the heroin seized on its territory in 2018 had been trafficked via Pakistan, while the remainder had been smuggled directly into the country from Afghanistan. Typically, heroin is then smuggled to Turkey (70 per cent of all the heroin seized in the Islamic Republic of Iran in both 2016 and 2017) and from there along the Balkan route to Western and Central Europe, either via the western branch of the route via Bulgaria to various western Balkan countries or, to a lesser extent, via the eastern branch of the route via Bulgaria and then to Romania and Hungary, before reaching the main consumer markets in Western and Central Europe' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The region with the next largest number of methamphetamine laboratories dismantled was Asia, accounting for 6 per cent of the global total in the period 2014–2018. Most of these facilities were dismantled in China and the Islamic Republic of Iran, which together accounted for 94 per cent of all reported laboratories dismantled in Asia, while some clandestine methamphetamine laboratories were also dismantled, in descending order of importance, in Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, the Republic of Korea, Myanmar and Hong Kong, China. In addition, the clandestine manufacture of methamphetamine has been reported in recent years by Afghanistan and Iraq.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Similar to the situation in the United States, where the manufacture of methamphetamine declined while increasing in neighbouring Mexico, both China and Iran (Islamic Republic of) reported declining domestic production, reflected in the decreasing numbers of methamphetamine laboratories dismantled in recent years, going hand in hand with the expansion of methamphetamine manufacture in their neighbouring countries. Indeed, by 2018 the Islamic Republic of Iran reported that most of the methamphetamine found on its territory originated in Afghanistan and was trafficked either from there directly or via Pakistan. Similarly, China reported that methamphetamine seized in recent years has originated primarily in Myanmar. In contrast to many other countries, however, the marked declines in the domestic manufacture of methamphetamine in China appear to have more than outweighed any increase in clandestine manufacture and imports from neighbouring countries. This is revealed in the decline in methamphetamine found in the wastewater in cities across China, with wastewater-based estimates suggesting a fall in methamphetamine consumption amounts of 26 per cent over the period 2014 –2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Most of the clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia has traditionally been in the Islamic Republic of Iran, being manufactured both for the local market and for export to countries in East and South-East Asia (including Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) as well as for export to Central Asia and the Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Georgia and Tajikistan) and to Europe (including Bulgaria, France, the Russian Federation, Turkey and the United Kingdom). However, the Islamic Republic of Iran is not the main source of the methamphetamine found in other countries in the Near and Middle East/SouthWest Asia (with the exception of Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic). The main source countries for other countries in this subregion seem to continue to be countries in East and South-East Asia. The extent of clandestine methamphetamine manufacture in the Islamic Republic of Iran actually appears to be declining, while manufacturing is rapidly increasing in neighbouring Afghanistan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Much of the methamphetamine production in these subregions was originally intended for exports to the rapidly growing markets of East and South-East Asia, but domestic markets also appear to have started to emerge in the Near and Middle East/ South-West Asia in recent years. Of 15 reporting countries in these subregions, 12 countries reported the use of methamphetamine by 2018 (or the latest year for which data are available). In the absence of scientific data for the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, qualitative information on trends in methamphetamine use reported by national authorities to UNODC give an indication of the threat experienced by the region. National authorities have reported a clear upward trend in methamphetamine use in those subregions. Methamphetamine appears to have emerged in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia as the main ATS used in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2009– 2018) as well as in Iraq (2016 and 2017), Lebanon (2014–2017), Bahrein (2016), Afghanistan (2015 and 2016), Israel (2014 and 2015) and Kuwait (2003, 2009, 2013' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Morocco, with 47,500 ha reported to be under cannabis cultivation in 2018, continues to be the most frequently mentioned source country for cannabis resin worldwide in the annual report questionnaire, being mentioned in more than a fifth of all cases as the main country of origin of cannabis resin seized worldwide over the period 2014–2018; Morocco was followed by Afghanistan, where, a UNODC survey found, in 2010 an area of 9,000–29,000 ha was under cannabis cultivation. Cannabis resin produced in Morocco is mainly destined for other markets in North Africa and markets in Western and Central Europe. Some cannabis resin of Moroccan origin is also trafficked to Eastern Europe and South-Eastern Europe. Most cannabis resin of Moroccan origin destined for Europe is first shipped to Spain, from where it is smuggled to other markets in the region. For many years, including in the period 2014–2018, Spain has been identified by other European countries as the principal country of departure and transit for cannabis resin, followed by the Netherlands.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Afghanistan appears to be the second most important source country of cannabis resin worldwide, with 19 per cent of all mentions worldwide in the annual report questionnaire over the period 2014– 2018, followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. The cannabis resin produced in these countries is principally destined for other countries in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, although cannabis resin originating in Afghanistan has also been identified in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Western and Central Europe. The Islamic Republic of Iran reported that the cannabis resin found on its territory originated mainly in Afghanistan (followed by Pakistan), with some 65 per cent destined for countries of the Arabian peninsula, 15 per cent for the Caucasus and some 20 per cent for domestic consumption. Cannabis resin originating in Lebanon is mainly found in the Near and Middle East and, to a lesser extent, in Western and Central Europe.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
Afghanistan and Mexico source the heroin and morphine. Mexico, Thailand, Myanmar and China source the methamphetamine. The Middle East and Eastern Europe sources the amphetamine. The US consumes heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Europe consumes heroin, morphine, methamphetamine and amphetamine. Asia consumes heroin, morphine and methamphetamine. Australia consumes methamphetamine. The Middle East consumes heroin and amphetamine. West Asia consumes heroin and methamphetamine. All countries grow and consume cannabis. Opioids, methamphetamine and amphetamines kill the most in terms of drug deaths, cannabis kills none. Who are the leading opponents to cannabis legalization and leading enforcers of global anti-cannabis policy? The countries involved the most in heroin, morphine, amphetamines and methamphetamines. They put on a mask of concern about harms from drugs, produce, sell and consume the most dangerous synthetic drugs and vehemently oppose cannabis legalization worldwide while clandestinely feeding their habits and protecting their sources. They use arms and armies to protect and promote their synthetic drug habits, and drug money to fund and wage a war on cannabis everywhere, pushing man and planet ever closer to death on massive scales and away from the safe, healing cannabis herb...
And you thought that the Americans, Russians, British, Chinese and Indians are in Afghanistan to help the people there re-establish normalcy in their lives...
'Joe Rogan and Abby Martin talks about opium coming from Afghanistan and drug trafficking in America. Also goes into carfentanyl and heroin.'
'Afghanistan has a tradition of opium smoking, and has long been a major source of illegal opiates for eastern and western Europe. In the past decade, Afghans have also reportedly begun to inject heroin and use pharmaceutical opioids. These developments have been attributed to increased heroin availability, civil disruption from insurgency, and the crowding of displaced Afghans into urban areas where heroin and pharmaceutical opioids are readily available.'
'Opium is illicitly produced in some 50 countries worldwide, although the three countries where most opium is produced have accounted for about 97 per cent of global opium production over the past five years. Afghanistan, the country where most opium is produced, which has accounted for approximately 84 per cent of global opium production over the past five years, supplies markets in neighbouring countries, Europe, the Near and Middle East, South Asia and Africa and to a small degree North America (notably Canada) and Oceania. Countries in SouthEast Asia – mostly Myanmar (some 7 per cent of global opium production) and, to a lesser extent, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (about 1 per cent of global opium production) – supply markets in East and South-East Asia and Oceania. Countries in Latin America – mostly Mexico (6 per cent of global opium production) and, to a far lesser extent, Colombia and Guatemala (less than 1 per cent of the global total) – account for most of the heroin supply to the United States and supply the comparatively small heroin markets of South America.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Despite a long-term upward trend, the global area under opium poppy cultivation declined by 17 per cent in 2018 and then by 30 per cent in 2019, falling to an estimated 240,800 ha. Declines in the area under cultivation were reported in both Afghanistan and Myanmar in 2018 and 2019. Despite the recent declines, the global area under opium poppy cultivation is nevertheless still substantially larger than a decade ago and at similar level of the global area under coca cultivation' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Despite global opium production in 2018 being less than in 2017, there have been no indications to date of a shortage in the supply of heroin to the respective consumer markets. In 2018 and 2019, both opium and heroin prices declined in the main opium production areas in Afghanistan, with opium farmgate prices falling by an average of 37 per cent (on a year earlier) in 2018 and by 24 per cent in 2019, while high-quality heroin prices fell by an average of 11 per cent in 2018 and by 27 per cent in 2019 in Afghanistan. Due to the bumper opium harvest of 2017, opium prices showed significant declines at an earlier stage (starting in 2017) than did heroin prices (basically starting in 2018), suggesting that it may have taken some time for clandestine heroin manufacture to adjust to the overall greater availability of opium before expanding, as later reflected in lower heroin prices. At the same time, data also show that, following two years of decreased opium production as compared with 2017, the downward trend in drug prices came to a halt, in the case of opium, in June 2019, and a few months later, in August 2019, in the case of heroin as well.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Most opiates seized are reported in or close to the main opium production areas. Thus Asia, host to more than 90 per cent of global illicit opium production and the world’s largest consumption market for opiates, accounted for almost 80 per cent of all opiates seized worldwide, as expressed in heroin equivalents, in 2018.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The largest quantities of opiates continued to be seized in South-West Asia in 2018, accounting for 98 per cent of the global quantity of opium seized, 97 per cent of the global quantity of morphine seized and 38 per cent of the global quantity of heroin seized that year (i.e., equivalent to 70 per cent of all opiates seized globally as expressed in heroin equivalents). Overall, 690 tons of opium, 42 tons of morphine and 37 tons of heroin were seized in South-West Asia in 2018' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The largest quantities of both opium and morphine seized were reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan, while seizures reported by other countries remained comparatively modest. The largest total quantity of heroin seized by a country in 2018 was that seized by the Islamic Republic of Iran (for the first time since 2014), followed by Turkey, the United States, China, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Belgium.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Almost 70 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine (the two main internationally trafficked opiates) seized in 2018 were intercepted in Asia, mostly in South-West Asia. The two subregions surrounding Afghanistan, South-West Asia and Central Asia, together accounted for more than 56 per cent of the global quantity of heroin and morphine seized
Despite the decline in 2018, the overall trend in seizures of heroin and morphine in that subregion continued to be an upward one over the period 2008–2018. South-West Asia continued to account for the majority of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized globally in 2018 (close to 56 per cent), with the largest quantities seized being reported by the Islamic Republic of Iran, followed by Afghanistan and Pakistan.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'While the strongest increase in the quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2017 was reported in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe (the same year as the bumper opium harvest reported in Afghanistan), the strongest increase in 2018 was reported in Western and Central Europe (89 per cent). This suggests that it may take a year from when opium is harvested in Afghanistan until it is manufactured into the heroin that ends up on the streets of Western and Central Europe. There were increases in heroin and morphine seizures in Europe in the countries along the Balkan route in 2018, although most of the increase was due to an increase in the quantities of heroin and morphine seized in Belgium and, to a lesser extent, in France and Italy.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'The world’s single largest heroin trafficking route continues to be the so-called “Balkan route”, along which opiates from Afghanistan are shipped to Iran (Islamic Republic of), Turkey, the Balkan countries and to various destinations in Western and Central Europe. Not counting seizures made in Afghanistan itself, countries along the Balkan route accounted for 58 per cent of the global quantities of heroin and morphine seized in 2018. A further 8 per cent of those global seizures were reported by countries in Western and Central Europe, whose markets are supplied to a great degree by heroin and morphine that is trafficked along the Balkan route' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'In line with the dominance of the opium production in Afghanistan, quantities of heroin and morphine seized related to Afghan opiate production accounted for some 84 per cent of the global total in 2018, a slight decrease from 88 per cent in 2017, the year of the bumper harvest in the country. Most of the heroin found in Europe, Central Asia/ Transcaucasia and Africa is derived from opium of Afghan origin, accounting for 100 per cent of all mentions in the responses to the annual report questionnaire by countries in Central Asia/Transcaucasia, 96 per cent in Europe and 87 per cent in Africa over the period 2014–2018.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'In 2010, opioid use and dependence made the largest contribution to morbidity and mortality from illicit drug use, contributing to premature death from drug overdose and suicide, and in those who inject these drugs, infection with HIV and other blood-borne viruses. Dependence also produced considerable disability. Afghanistan has a tradition of opium smoking, and has long been a major source of illegal opiates for eastern and western Europe. In the past decade, Afghans have also reportedly begun to inject heroin and use pharmaceutical opioids. These developments have been attributed to increased heroin availability, civil disruption from insurgency, and the crowding of displaced Afghans into urban areas where heroin and pharmaceutical opioids are readily available.'
'Much of the methamphetamine production in these subregions was originally intended for exports to the rapidly growing markets of East and South-East Asia, but domestic markets also appear to have started to emerge in the Near and Middle East/ South-West Asia in recent years. Of 15 reporting countries in these subregions, 12 countries reported the use of methamphetamine by 2018 (or the latest year for which data are available). In the absence of scientific data for the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia, qualitative information on trends in methamphetamine use reported by national authorities to UNODC give an indication of the threat experienced by the region. National authorities have reported a clear upward trend in methamphetamine use in those subregions. Methamphetamine appears to have emerged in the Near and Middle East/South-West Asia as the main ATS used in the Islamic Republic of Iran (2009– 2018) as well as in Iraq (2016 and 2017), Lebanon (2014–2017), Bahrein (2016), Afghanistan (2015 and 2016), Israel (2014 and 2015) and Kuwait (2003, 2009, 2013' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
'Surveys of people in hospitals, prisons and other institutions had already revealed the importance of methamphetamine in Iraq as far back as 2012. Along with “captagon” and tramadol, crystalline methamphetamine has emerged as a main drug of concern. A study in 2015 further confirmed those findings, with drug users saying they found cannabis more difficult to get hold of than “captagon” or methamphetamine. More recently, Iraqi authorities have discovered methamphetamine laboratories and, INCB has expressed concern over large-scale imports of pseudoephedrine preparations – used as precursors in methamphetamine laboratories. In Afghanistan, seizures of methamphetamine have steadily risen since 2014, when manufacturing seems to have started. But the amount seized in the first six months of 2019 – 657 kg – signals a huge leap on the previous year. The large seizures effected in other countries of methamphetamine thought to originate in Afghanistan also suggest that production in that country is rising fast.' - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, World Drug Report 2020,
