Heroin Southeast Asia

McCoy, A. W. 1972. The politics of heroin in Southeast Asia. New York Harper Row. 

In 1979-1980, some illegal fentanyl analogues appeared that were being sold as substitutes for heroin on the street. Suddenly, a series of more than a dozen mysterious deaths occurred in southern California. Upon autopsy, the victims strongly looked as if they had overdosed on heroin however, no traces of heroin could be found in their bodies. Later, forensic chemists identified a fentanyl analogue (alpha-methyl-fentanyl) that was present in all of the victims. As it turns out, alpha-methyl-fentanyl was being sold on the streets under the name China White (Figure 7.2), because it resembled (and contained) pure synthetic heroin that was produced in Southeast Asia. 

Opium production occurs in three source regions— Southeast Asia, Southwest Asia, and Latin America. While an undetermined amount of the opium is consumed in the producing regions, a significant amount of the drug is converted to heroin and sent to its major markets in Europe and North America. 

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. 

Opium traders buy the raw opium from farmers. In Southeast Asia, the price for raw opium in 1999-2000 ranged from 150 to 350 per kilogram. The price is marked up as the opium goes through each stage of processing and refinement. For example, the DEA reports that cooked opium is usually marked up approximately 20%. The price is then marked up again as the opium is refined into morphine base, morphine, heroin base, and heroin. 

After federal bans on opium, black markets developed to supply the demand. World War II temporarily interrupted opium smuggling routes. After the war, smuggling resumed with the U.S. government becoming involved in struggles in Southeast Asia that are sometimes blamed for fostering opium production and the heroin trade. 

Opium Poppy Cultivation and Heroin Processing in Southeast Asia. U.S. Drag Enforcement Administration, DEA 20026, March 2001. . 

French Corsicans and Italian-American Mafiosi played a major role in funneling opium, grown in Turkey and Southeast Asia and processed as heroin in French underground labs, to America. Mexican and Chinese gangs were active in the drug trade in the Southwest and on the West Coast. Tons of heroin reached the United States and the demand increased to epidemic proportions..—... 

Opium is an alkaloid obtained from the dried latex of incised unripe flower pods of the poppy plant Papaver somniferum and is comprised of as many as 25 different alkaloids, including pharmacologically active morphine, codeine, and papaverine. Opium is cultivated in Southeast Asia, Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, Nigeria, and Mexico. Heroin is produced by acetylation of morphine. 

Note "China White has been used as a term for very pure Southeast Asia heroin. This term has also been erroneously used to refer to 3-methyl and < -methylfentanvl, q.v., which are potent derivs of fentany], q.v. 

Geographic Distribution of Heroin Abuse. Although opiate abuse originated In China and Southeast Asia It has first of all spread to the major... 

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