Golden triangle

Around 92 per cent of the world s heroin comes from poppies grown in Afghanistan. Despite a massive increase in opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan in 2006, the global area under poppy was actually 10 per cent lower than in 2000. This decline was mainly due to sustained success in reducing cultivation in South-East Asia. Poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle has fallen by some 80 per cent since 2000. 

The information in this section comes from the report on Opium Poppy Cultivation in the Golden Triangle (UNODC/Governments of Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Thailand, October 2006), and can also be found on the internet (http //www.unodc.org/unodc/en/crop monitoring.html). 

Golden Triangle An area ranging from Myanmar (Burma) into the Yunan province of China to parts of Laos and Thailand. The area has long been known for opium cultivation and production under control of various regional groups. 

The main producer of medicinal opium is India, whilst poppy straw is cultivated in Turkey, Russia, and Australia. Opium destined for the black market originates from the Golden Triangle (Burma, Laos, and Thailand), the Golden Crescent (Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan), and Mexico. 

Heroin is a narcotic derived from the opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum). Opium poppy is grown primarily by destitute farmers in what is known as the Golden Crescent in Southwest Asia (encompassing Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) and the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam). In the Americas, Columbia and Mexico are chief producers. 

U.S. military involvement in Vietnam was credited with the next major surge in heroin smuggling into the United States. Political and economic turmoil in the region led to a surge in production from Southeast Asia s Golden Triangle. By the end of the U.S. war in Vietnam, there were some 750,000 heroin addicts on American streets. 

The detailed record assembled by American and other investigators of the mechanics of the opium trade from the Golden Triangle down to opium s ports of departure to the rest of the world ... 

The wholesale value of the 700 tons of annual opium product in the Golden Triangle, prepaid in the triborder area, is roughly... 

If the annual profit of the Golden Triangle operators is in the range of 5 billion — or a mere one fifth of the annual retail sales... 

First of all, peasants of the Golden Triangle poppy fields do not appreciate secret accounts in the Bahamas. Furthermore, since the end of the Vietnam War, and the end of the widespread traffic in contraband and American arms and American dollars, the U.S. dollar in the form of currency is no longer an acceptable... 

The estimate was derived from the following calculations At the 1971-72 peak of heroin production in the Golden Triangle, much of which was intended for American soldiers in Vietnam, 21 refineries were in operation since then the number has declined. Assuming that ten are still in operation, and that the annual output of each is equivalent to the 3,000... 

The British Crown Colony plays a major role in the trafficking and refining of narcotics which originate in the "Golden Triangle" ... 

It serves as the refining center for "Golden Triangle" opium... 

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