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products in this little-known and
sparscly populated areaofthe world
held virtually no significance to the
international drug trade. Bu t at the
height of this area's opium produc–
tion during the Vietnam War, the
Golden Triangle region held the
dubious distinction of being the
world's major sourceofi llicit opium
and its deadly children, morphine
and heroin.
How did t his rugged mountain–
ous area formed by the conjunc–
tion of the three coun tries of
Thai land, Laos a nd Bu rma
become a major center of illicit
op iu m c ulti vation ? Who is
responsible?
Strangely enough, in a macabre
twis t o f circumstances, the govern–
ments ofthe Western world , moti–
valed by the selfish way of life we
cal! thc
get
way- as opposed to the
way of giving-carry historical
responsibility for t he sordid
g rowth of opium poppy cu ltivation
in Asia. After you read this story
you will see why the incriminating
facts of history have been kept
from the general public.
Britain Plants
In 1600 the British East India
Co. was formed in ord er to
expand trade contacts with the
past.
1
n the three centuries to follow,
this goal was pursued with much
vigor. The s t alwa rt merc hant
mariners of the East India Co.
fought their way in to the highly
competitive market s of thc
Orie nt , foll owed by the armies of
Britai n's ever expanding colonial
empire.
China, with her teeming mil–
lions, held the greatest att raction
to thc traders. Not only as a poten–
tia! market for the products of the
growing empire, but mai nly as a
supplier of luxury goods for the
insat iable appetites of the g rowing
mercantile empire, especially that
indispensable ítem- tea.
But Britain faced a monumen–
tal problem in its trade relations
with Chi na. The Chinese wanted
little of what the British had to
offer in exchange for Chi na's cov–
etcd products.
For the first two centurics of
Britai n's contact with China, the
6
balance of trade was always unfa–
vorable to thc British. This put a
great strain on the economics of
the Empire, as the only ítem of
exchange acceptablc to the Chi–
nese was s ilver.
1
n fact, nine-tenths
of the cargo of every ship sai ling
for Can ton was si lver buIlion.
Motivated by thc spirit of
get–
ting,
a solution had to be found to
stop this fl ood of silver specic
from the Empire's treasury into
the coffers of Imperial China.
T hat solution was eventually
found in a little-known trade
product of l ndia-opium.
The Chinese had long consid–
ered opium ingested whole as use–
fui for medicinal purposes. Then
in the 17th century, Dutch trad-
amounts in parts of China at this
time but the Chinese population
was kept supplied by Portugucse
traders who brought the drug to
China from Mogullndia, the ch ief
producer of opium as a cash crop
for export. Opium remained a rela–
tively unimporta nt trade ítem,
even when the British took control
of the coasts of India, until it
becamc the answer to the Empire's
trade problem with China.
British colonial powers in India
soon organ ized the drug trade
into a large-scale, directly admin–
istered government monopoly
that actively encouraged foreign
sales and fostered new markets,
mai nl y in China.
Opium replaced silver as the
currency of trade with the C hi–
nese. The flow of s ilve r spccic
into China was effectively halted
and after the middle of the 19th
century the flow had completely
reversed direction.
The answer to Britain's balance
of trade problem became th e
c urse of Chi na. The opium tradc
~
became so lucrative that others
~
soon joined Britain in opening
j
China to foreign trade. While the
s
British controlled t he production,
~
transport and sale of l ndian
L...___
....;:~~.._
...._ _______. :;:
opium, thc United States held a
monopoly on the import of Turk–
ish opium to China.
GOLDEN TRIANGLE
-Hi/1 country on
border of tour nations, in shaded area,
has optimum climate for the cultivation
of opium poppies.
ers on the is land o f Formosa
taught them the habit of smoking
the drug mixed with tobacco. The
Chinese gradually omitted the
tobacco and began smoking only
the opi um in thei r pipes.
In the early years of the 19th
century, mai nly young men of
wealthy famili es indulged in
opium smoking. But as the drug
became more readily available,
people from all walks of life
began to acquire the habit. Man–
darins, soldiers, merchants, labor–
ers, women a nd eve n Taoist
priests took up the pipe. More
an d more people were being
seduced from productive careers
in the society. Opium became an
increasingly malignant cancer in
an a1ready diseased society.
Opium was cultivated in small
The in flux of opium on such an
organized scale had a devastating
effect on t he C hinese popula–
tion.
While the British were openly
pursuing the expansion of the
opi um trade with China, the Chi –
nese Imperial government began
an active drive to suppress it. As
early as 1729, the domest ic sale
and consumption had been pro–
hibited by Imperial edict. In
1800, thc importation of opium
was specifically banned. But the
Ching dynasty of China was too
weak to enfo rce its suppression
policies.
Opium smuggling was so lucra–
tive that corrupt officials and
merchants greedily became in–
volved in the drug traffic.
The Emperor's last attempt to
seriously stop the flow of opium
in, and the drain of specie out,
(Continued on page 39)
The
PLAIN TRUTH