Drug Trafficking: 1900 to Present: South, Central, and West Asia

Marcella Bush Trevino

The Golden Crescent, an area comprising parts of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, is the world's leading opium poppy cultivation zone, fueling regional drug trafficking in opiates such as heroin. Geographic conditions, limited economic alternatives, poverty, and corruption have contributed to the region's ongoing drug cultivation and trafficking. Drug traffickers include both small homogenous groups and the lesser but growing presence of organized crime. Traffickers use northern, western, and southern routes through the region to destination markets in Europe, Asia, and North America. Impacts of drug trafficking include growing drug abuse and human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) rates. Many governments overlook trafficking because of its local economic importance. Afghanistan alone provides more than 90 percent of the global supply of opiates, including almost 75 percent of the global supply of heroin, worth approximately $100 billion. The United Nations Economic and Social Council Commission on Narcotic Drugs also ...

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