Show Student Page 21 Life Monthly Review root causes of r— poverty drug addiction-racis- m meaningless jobs alienation of youth-we- re dealt with ef- “Perhaps Book Review continued if the fectively the heroin problem might disappear As long as these basic social problems exist there will be thousands of potential addicts and as long as heroin is ' The Politics available criminal syndicates will continue to find the US - lucrative market for narcotics' L— of Hereoine in Southeast Asia government and armed forces The Thai military revolt) is government (recently deposed by a student-tnitiateAmerica's next best ally in the struggle All three market and are intimately involved in the domestic opium-heroi"organized crime's international operations American d anti-communi- by'Alfred W McCoy Harper 1 972 464 pages & a Row New York st n by Dayne Goodwin Some hidden history comes to light “The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" is a fascinating journey into the remote mountains of the Golden Triangle where Burma Thailand and Laos share a common border A thorough investigation of the infamous commodity heroin leads to numerous revelations about politics and corruption in Southeast Asia and the American empire The focus is heroin refined from morphine base originally from the poppy fields of Asia The actors are an enlightening mixture of syndicate hoods government officials police and army leaders the CIA and mercenary armies they're the pushers Then there's the peasants and tribespeople the poor and downtrodden masses of Southeast Asia American Gl's the alienated and hopeless of capitalist Europe and North America they're the victims The plot is getting old: a corrupt but powerful few profiting off the suffering of millions Over 75 percent of America's urban crime is caused by addicts trying to feed their habit 70 percent of the world's total illicit opium supply comes from Southeast Asia McCoy's message is that if the US Government President Nixon Governor Rockefeller and other outstanding crusaders against drugs crime and corruption want to get to the root of the problem the roots of the poppy fields are in the limestone ridges of the Golden Triangle “The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" is full of generally history McCoy tells the story of the bitter battle between the CIA and French intelligence for control of Saigon during 1954-5This rivalry was won by the CIA's Colonel Lansdale who was instrumental in installing the American puppet Ngo Dinh Diem as President of “South Vietnam" There is the story of the ousted Kuom intang (“Nationalist city-dwelle- rs Colonial empires and asian opium The 18th and 19th century imperial British governments fostered opium production in India and went to war to open up China as a market for Indian opium The British India government found the opium trade to be a lucrative source of taxation and revenue The French colonialists of Indochina were not about to let the British monopolize the business McCoy traces the history of opium and its derivatives from these times of colonial profiteering Today opium production has been curtailed in Turkey Iran and ‘India According to McCoy the Chinese revolution ofJ949 brought drug production and addiction to an abrupt halt in mainland China The thriving syndicate of the capitalist countries now relies on Southeast Asia for most of its opium and heroin Northern Burma Thailand and Laos provfde the poppy fields Government and military leaders of Thailand Laos and South Vietnam along with US government-sponsoremercenary armies and the CIA provide the connection between the fields and the syndicate Syndicate headquarters for distribute to the US is Hong Kong American Gl's were a boon to the Southeast Asian heroin economy Some officers joined in the corruption but GIs were generally just customers Heroin production did not decrease when most GIs went home instead heroin followed them home -- -- d ed government of pushers? McCoy underlines the complicity of the US government indirect complicity through its client Southeast Asian governments and armies direct complicity in the case of the Central Intellignece Agency Of course distribution of illegal drugs in the US could not prosper without the cooperation of police forces and government officials The sometimes battle against organized crime and law enforcement corruption darkens the question mark around Nixon and Rockefeller's war on drugs “The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" provides intriguing illumination on its shady subject matter However it becomes exa tremely difficult to answer this question: How do you distinguish syndicate boss and either one from big businessman from a establishment politician civilian or military? This afa firmatively unanswerable question is McCoy's underlying theme the CIA LrutheearJyy ears of the cold war the US government fttarru based Mafia (formerly OSS) r ec r u tecfa nE7 e j vena tginircrSit syndicate to aid in the fight and the Corsican Marseilles-baseclass militancy and massive against communism Working in France and Italy organization threatened to topple capitalism and political following World War II Capitalists their governments to break strikes and parties and organized crime worked together terrorize revolutionaries Essentially the same alliance is fighting the and crusade of Southeast Asia Xhe South Vietnamese government of the the Laotian Armed Forces are wholly owned subsidiaries A big-tim- big-tim- e e -- i d anti-communi- st well-hidde- n 5 inter-imperiali- st Chinese") armies who located in Northern Burma (now in Thailand) and carried out raids and intelligence operations into “Red China" at least until 1971 These armies and their activities were sustained and encouragedby the US and Taiwan governments One of the Kuomintang armies' major activities has been organizing the drug traffic from the Shan states of Burma to Bangkok and Saigon General Tuan commander of the Fifth Army explained in 1967: “We have to continue to fight the evil of communism and to fight you must have an army and an army must have guns and to buy guns you must have money In these mounTairTs theonly money Shi-we- n is opium" There is the 1967 Opium War where the Laotian Air Forcedefeated the Kuomintang and Burmese Shan armies for control of that years' opium crop Today Laos is the foremost “land of the poppy" What can be done? What Can Be Done? is the title of McCoy's last chapter He sees three possibilities: 1) cure the individual addicts 2) smash international and domestic narcotic syndicates or 3) eliminate illicit opium production McCoy doesn't think the first two alternatives offer much hope poverty “Perhaps if the root causes of drug addiction-racis- m re with youth-weof dealt effectively meaningless jobs alienation As as these basic social long the heroin problem might disappear as of and addicts be thousands will there exist potential problems to find will continue longas heroin is available criminal syndicates the United States a lucrative market for narcotics" “There is iittie reason to hope that the United States will ever be able to destroy the criminal syndicates responsible for manufacturing importing and distributing America's heroin supply For over forty years state and federal law enforcement agencies have been 'cracking down' on organized crime Occasionally a major mafioso like Lucky Luciano or Vito Genovese is imprisoned but the basic structure of organized crime has never been imperiled After at least three major US Senate invesfc§fcons dozens of 'hardhitting' district attorneys hundreds of Grand Jury inquiries and an endless parade of media exposes organized crime is stronger than ever" Eliminating illicit opium production is the only alternative with a chance of success This would require the US government to apply pressure on the Thailand Laos and South Vietnam governments The basic simplicity of this approach is satirically illustrated by McCoy: is the only person in the chain of processing “the opium farmer distribution who does not share in the enormous smuggling and profits A kilo of heroin that sells for $225000 on the streets of New York is refined from only $500 worth of opium If the United States were willing to pay farmers the going price of $50 a kilo not to grew opium Southeast Asia's entire annual harvest of one thousand tons could be eliminated for only $50 million Considering that addicts in New York City steal approximately $580 million annually to maintain their habits we can hardly afford not to take advantage of this bargain" — Oayffif Gcrodwm? —a— native- - --©£ Logan is a senior in Political student Science He is a part-tim- e for and a constant He is also the Student Life Socialist of the member Party book-review- er |