Originally posted by vermonster
funny how no one wants to talk about the fact that since our occupation of afganyland began opium production has skyrocketed.

this is why i dont support our precious, brave, and heroic legions of poppy protectors over there.

Yeah yeah yeah.

Whatever

Russia has become the biggest consumer of Afghan heroin with 21% of all the drug consumed in the world, as of the latest UN Office on Drugs and Crime report “Addiction, Crime and Insurgency” published on October 21.

According to the report, no less than 70 tons of heroin were trafficked to Russia in 2008 – that’s three times more than to the US and Canada together, and much more than previously estimated.

“It's being brought to Russia across the unprotected, transparent, and I would call them virtual borders, which were established after the collapse of the Soviet Union,” says Viktor Ivanov, head of the Federal Drug Control Service.

At present, opium poppies are mostly grown in Afghanistan, and in Southeast Asia, especially in the region known as the Golden Triangle straddling Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Yunnan province in the People's Republic of China.

The majority of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico and Colgmbia. Up until 2004, Pakistan was considered one of the biggest opium-growing countries.

Afghanistan’s opium production is used to fund insurgencies against invading U.S. forces. The money from Afghan opium trickles through everyone in the country — from farmers to police to government officials. Outside the country, Afghan opium production is a $65-billion industry.

Afghanistan is now responsible for 92 percent of the world’s opium supply.

Most of this supply is distributed throughout Pakistan, Russia, Europe and China. Russia has been hit hard with heroin use, as deaths resulting from AIDS have exploded from 1,900 people in 2001 to 40,000 in 2007, 80 percent of which resulted from dirty needles.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan strongly influences Russia’s rising heroin statistics. After the U.S. went into Afghanistan, the Taliban needed more weapons and money, facilitating increased opium production. Russian gangsters trade military weapons with Taliban drug lords for heroin, fueling the vicious cycle with the U.S. military.

Russia is the world's top consumer of Afghan heroin. Last month President Dmitry Medvedev warned that high drug use amongst the country's youth was a threat to national security.

Michel Kazatchkine, executive director of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, said AIDS still carried heavy stigma in Russia and the government needed to address this.

"Something in society is malfunctioning and it is unable to talk aloud about weaknesses," he said.

2009-08-25
Police in the southeastern Chinese border town of Zhuhai have recently seized 11.5 kilograms of heroin and arrested five suspected drug traffickers, Xinhua News Agency reports.

It is reportedly the biggest drug case in China in three years. Besides the large amount of heroin, police also confiscated other drugs, raw materials, a pistol and 97 bullets.

Sunday, August 9, 1987
Chinese criminals have taken over the dominant role in New York City's heroin industry, in a sudden restructuring of a multibillion-dollar enterprise that for decades was the preserve of the Mafia, Federal law-enforcement officials say.

Authorities say ethnic Chinese traffickers have recently been flooding the New York market with huge shipments of Southeast Asian heroin, or China White, which is among the world's purest.

Originally posted by vermonster
reply to post by SLAYER69

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nice. i like how you left out the fact that the taliban, or freedom fighters as we once referred to them as, imposed a ban on herion up until 2001.

Another source claims opium production was cut back by the Taliban not to prevent its use but to shore up its price, and thus increase the income of poppy farmers and revenue of Afghan tax collectors.[67