By Isaac Davis
Now officially a national federal emergency, the opioid crisis is gutting America. The roots of this complex issue lie in supply, not demand, and while we are beginning to see major pharmaceutical executives being indicted for conspiracy and bribery of doctors, we have a long way to go to turn this thing around.
Pharmaceutical and synthetic opioids are a major part of the catastrophe, but the other side of the supply chain is actual opium, and the world’s biggest opium market just happens to be occupied Afghanistan, the epicenter of the global heroin trade. The United States military has been operating in Afghanistan as part of the war on terror for over 16 years now, and opium production in the war-torn nation continues to increase, year-over-year, coinciding with the rise of the opioid crisis.
2017 looks to be another record year for opium production in Afghanistan. As reported by Business Insider:
The country has produced the majority of the world’s opium for some time, despite billions of dollars spent by the US to fight it during the 16-year-long war there. Afghan and Western officials now say that rather than getting smuggled out of Afghanistan in the form of opium syrup, at least half of the crop is getting processed domestically, before leaving the country as morphine or heroin. [Source]
This particular article goes on to attribute the high production of opium, morphine and heroin on the Taliban, suggesting that the U.S. has been spending billions in taxpayer dollars directly fighting the drug war in Afghanistan.
Those forms are easier to smuggle, and they are much more valuable for the Taliban, which reportedly draws at least 60% of its income from the drug trade. With its increasing focus on trafficking drugs, the Taliban has taken on more of the functions a drug cartel. [Source]
What is not mentioned, however, is the fact that international trade in illegal drugs from war-torn countries is essential to geopolitics, implying that the U.S. military is being used to create an environment where the drug trade is allowed to flourish.
It’s clear that drug trafficking is a major factor in world scheme, and some people put it up as maybe number three, after oil being number one, and then arms number two, and then drugs number three. Actually there’s a certain amount of interaction between those because very often where you’re having illicit trafficking of arms, the planes that take arms in one direction, the arms are paid for with drugs and the planes come back with drugs. ~Peter Dale Scott
This suggestion coincides with production data since the U.S. invasion, and with statements made by a former U.S. who in 2015 stated that the CIA was actively involved in the Afghan drug trade.
“I’m ashamed to say that I have participated in these drug smuggling operations on many occasions. For a long time, I tried to convince myself that we were doing it for the right cause, but this burden is destroying me inside and I just can’t stand it anymore” he admitted before the court audience.
“The CIA has been dealing drugs since its creation. They’ve been smuggling drugs everywhere in the world for the past 60 years, in Taiwan in 1949 to support General Chiang Kai-shek against the Chinese commies, in Vietnam, in Nicaragua, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg” he launched out during the court trial. “We helped the Mujahideen develop poppy cultivation to fight the Soviets, but we took back matters in our own hands in 2001 when we invaded Afghanistan under Bush” he pleaded. ~John F. Abbotsford, a 38-year old Afghan war veteran [Source]
If you’re hoping or expecting a sudden end to the opioid crisis just because President Trump has called for the government-funded production of anti-opioid television commercials, your hope is misplaced. Afghanistan is a major key in this puzzle, as are the pharmaceutical companies.
Read more articles from Isaac Davis.
Isaac Davis is a staff writer for WakingTimes.com and OffgridOutpost.com Survival Tips blog. He is an outspoken advocate of liberty and of a voluntary society. He is an avid reader of history and passionate about becoming self-sufficient to break free of the control matrix. Follow him on Facebook, here.
This article (Another Record Breaking Year for Opium Production in U.S. Occupied Afghanistan) was originally created and published by Waking Times and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Isaac Davis and WakingTimes.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this copyright statement.
In his book ‘The Committee of 300’ John.D.Coleman explains that the royals have owned the drug routes for hundreds of years.
Another good read ‘Barry and the Boys’ by Dennis Hopsicker. hint: Shoving duffel bags out over Mena, Arkansas in low flying plains. The ground crew would go find them with paging devices.poor ol’ Barry Seal…RIP.
In the times of queen Victoria the UK sold 6000 tons of opium per year to China via Hongkong. They conquered Hongkong for this purpose. 90 % of the population was busy with the drugs. Amongst the dealers was Warren Delano the grandfather of FDR.
So, involvement of the government in drug dealing is not new. The trade generates 250 billions a year of fresh money for wall street. A good part of it is washed in the EU and Germany.
It really wouldn’t take that much napalm to destroy all the fields and then cover the land with salt like the Romans did to Carthage.
They try to place the blame for the massive production of opium on the Taliban, but the fact is, the Taliban had nearly destroyed ALL poppy plants when the US invaded. Poppies were being grown in South America and other places to replace what was lost in Afghanistan until the US invaded. When the Taliban was chased out, the Bush admin thought it would be a good idea to let the farmers grow something profitable, so, it was back to opium poppies.