Jesse Ventura Reveals How the Afghanistan War Fueled the American Heroin Epidemic

On this week’s Off the Grid, I reveal how America lost the war on drugs by fighting the war on terror. Since the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan, the country’s opium production has doubled, massively contributing to the heroin epidemic raging through America today. Tune in to this all-new episode to find out how the Afghanistan War led to the American heroin epidemic and how big of a role our own government played.

What other unintended consequences of war have you seen?

I know and have heard of veterans that spent their deployment guarding poppy fields. Watch American Gangster with Denzel Washington, I laugh if you think the military didn't use that man as a scapegoat. This story has been going on for decades to fund black projects that we can only imagine. a reply to: JesseVentura

Just like what happened in Viet Nam, funny how the world's biggest Opium supplying countries shift to wherever US and western troops are currently occupying.

What a scoop! (40 years after the fact).

Jess,

or staff lurking…

Get current or give it a break.

How can you not know this is old news.

The only news to me is that Brajita in the command center can in fact read.

Jesus H, these things are lame . You 'd think this guy would tell us something secretive in nature eventually, but nope, it never comes

Have you considered making a comeback to wrestling under the moniker Buzz Killington?

Its true its old news. but the fact is if you wish to change things you must work with "old" news. Many people know this about war and drugs but refusing to keep it in the open means it just goes on in the back ground. As long as people keep saying "this is old news" things cannot change. I understand people want to be part of the cutting point , belong to the "A team" but the real A team and the real cutting edge are at work deep in the old news trying to change things for the better.

Greetings and Salutations-

Jesse et al. If Your retirement fund showed the same growth as that of Afghanistan's production of opium You wouldn't have to make a 5 min. video of things that went on 10 years ago. When TheTaliban was in charge it was "low" since the US Military™ an arm of BigPHarma™ went to "war" the rate is "HIGH". Don't forget that that opium also goes into producing opiate based medications, to which there is also a HIGH overdose/overprescribed angle.

This 'war' is for dope and the $$$ it generates. Not only on "Sales" but also the incarceration of those caught. So "THEY" make the $$$ going 'up' and make $$$ going 'down'.

The Iraq war is for the StarGate. If "THEY" hadn't killed ALL the local folks that had info that war wouldn't have lasted the 10 years, but it took 10 years to dismantle the thing..

See the rate of growth for the opium. For the 'IraqiStargate' You'll have to do that research..

world.time.com...

namaste

originally posted by: notmyrealname
Jess,

or staff lurking…

Get current or give it a break.

How can you not know this is old news.

Actually, I appreciate the thread. I knew of the opium production back then but never put much thought into it. In just the past three years heroin has become an epidemic in my neck of the woods, here in northern Wisconsin, so it took ten years for heroin to hit the rural areas that I live in, and it has hit big time! It's a very serious problem here and people are dying. Thanks for the article, Jesse.

originally posted by: notmyrealname
Jess,

or staff lurking…

Get current or give it a break.

How can you not know this is old news.

You have to understand ATS is not what it use to be, it has fallen far from the top where it use to be. To be honest I surprised that some one like JV even bothers to post here. If you want to understand how far ATS has fallen just read the begging notice from the owner, and the wording, and you will see that ATS now bends to there pay masters and will do nothing that might upset TPTB.

a reply to: imod02

I am just saddened that JV does not have the dignity to post his own ideas with his own words. It is also sad that the Taliban which had decimated the poppy production in Afghanistan and our war allowed the resumption of that 'industry'. It is sad that JV just finds out about this ancient history now; especially as he is supposed to be exposing things for a living!

I hold public figures to a higher bar than the average Joe here. Anyone can put a picture of Superman and act like it so I guess I can make a post and act like I'm Barack Obama if I like…oh wait... that would be one of the endless arbitrarily enforced T&C violations….

a reply to: notmyrealname

You get a star from me

People in the thread might be interested in this (undated) linked document on the State Department website.

www.state.gov...

It lists 11 myths about the opium trade in Afghanistan. I found the following statement particularly interesting.

The United States has eliminated support for the (Afghan) Ministry of Interior’s Poppy Eradication Force (PEF). The USG continues to support governor-led eradication on a case-by-case basis where licit alternatives exist.

This looks to me like a bald statement of support for the illegal Afghan heroin trade under the letterhead of the U.S. Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

Hey, doesn't everybody love a "stand up gangster"?

Would I be misjudging the folks at "state" if I suggested that they were using the Afghan heroin industry as a way of attacking Iran? Perhaps.

The following linked article on the Afghan poppy cultivation industry is very interesting. Among many informative statements is the following:

www.irinnews.org...

An Islamic country, Afghanistan is ultra-traditional and devout, yet economic necessity, and to some extent greed, enable people to transcend the Quran's forbidding of narcotic production. For some, the fact that the opium or heroin is destined for non-muslim countries lessens the wrong, although this idea is belied by the reality that 85 percent of Afghanistan's opium is consumed in the region of Central Asia, where addiction rates are soaring. Addiction in Iran alone is now estimated to affect between 800,000 and 1.2 million people, and opiate users are estimated to number 3.5 million - over nine times the global national percentage average. Iranian users source their opium or heroin entirely from Afghanistan.

And just in case people were in doubt, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan is illegal.

The cultivation of opium poppy is illegal in Afghanistan. Its cultivation, processing and trafficking is outlawed by the new constitution and contravenes international law.

Maybe that is why American soldiers have to guard the fields, to make sure Afghan government law enforcement officers don't destroy the crops.

Big Business and the military have all ways been in bed together. In the time of Julius Caesar, the senators were money lenders who profited handsomely for lending Rome the money to invade wherever the latest Al Qaeda happened to be. Julius himself won a civil war with his own legions to supress his main rival’s legions of Pompey to become Emperor of Rome. (Pompey’s wife Julia just happened to be Julius’ daughter). There is no difference between governments and corporations as they are one in the same and they use the military to enforce their will.
Fast forward to the British Empire and the “Opium Wars”( aka Heroin Wars ) of the 1800’s where China had a massive trade imbalance ( sounds kinda familiar ) and had amassed tons of our silver ( ha-ha we give them pieces of paper now ). Unfortunately, the Chinese didn’t want anything we had to sell. The happy answer was selling Chinese merchants heroin grown in British controlled India ( which included Afghanistan’s primo stuff ) in exchange for getting that shiny silver back. After the Chinese government busted over 1200 tons of the drugs and declared it illegal by death to sell, the British army invaded and forced the Chinese Emperor to accept our “drug your nation” trade practices. Oh, guess what was also thrown in with in the treaty - we got Hong Kong with a sweet British naval base. They had it Made in Hong Kong with the Treaty of Nanking.
“The Qing government was obliged to pay the British government six million silver dollars for the opium that had been confiscated by Lin Zexu in 1839 (Article IV), 3 million dollars in compensation for debts that the Hong merchants in Canton owed British merchants (Article V), and a further 12 million dollars in war reparations for the cost of the war (VI). The total sum of 21 million dollars was to be paid in installments over three years and the Qing government would be charged an annual interest rate of 5 percent for the money that was not paid in a timely manner (Article VII).” ( how much would that be worth in todays money ?)

Treaty of Nanking

Could you ever imagine the military going to a foreign land in order to enforce a lucrative drug trade ? Thank goodness that could never happen today in our enlightened society.
So why are we in Afghanistan again – did we at least find the cave Bin Laden was hiding in or maybe the elite school where the 911 “Saudi Nationals” plane hijackers where trained ?
I’m just glad the hijackers were not Canadians because the US corporate run military would logically invade Mexico to eliminate their training grounds, destroy their terrorist bases and confiscate their weapons of mass burrito destruction ( and maybe a bit of their blow as well ).

What is even more stupid, is the fact the government cracked down on pain killer prescription, now the drug heads can't get there pills, so now they can just go up to the corner and buy heroin.

So who is getting the 300 billion that is coming from the Opium trade in Afghanistan. The real crooks.

a reply to: OOOOOO

Both heroin and the pain medication are derivatives of the opium poppy. Not only is the $$$ made on the 'sales' but also on the incarceration rate. Here in Flori-Duh, Gov. Scott, who incidentally spent $75M of "his own $$$" (money pilfered from a healthcare scam in Alabama) for a job that pays $237,000.00/yr. got rid of all the "pill mills" and then installed his personal business "Concierge Drs." into many of the closed "pill mills". Months later the State of Fl. passed a law that welfare recipients would have to take a urine test to receive their benefits at their own expense. At Fl hospitals the tests averaged $150.00 At Gov. Scotts StripMall Dr.'s office the tests costs $34.00 Where would You go?

The same guys making the $$$ make it on the "Sales" then on the incarceration of the user/abuser, that is after absorbing the 'court costs' after the "k-9 alerted to possible drugs in the car...."

It is ALL a racket.. The deeper One digs, the sicker the seeker gets..

namaste

In July 2000 the Taliban declared poppy growing anti Muslim much to the dismay of whoever was getting ¾ of the world supply of heroin. Their leader, Mullah Mohamed Omar, did this to comply with the wishes and cooperation of the United Nations. An amazing 99% of the countries production was halted. Instead of hailing the Taliban as heroes for trying to eliminate a drug that literally destroys lives – they were repaid by an accusation of hiding Bin Laden and an immediate invasion. They had offered to give Bin a fair trial in Afghanistan and then in Pakistan on October 4 2001. We answered their offer by invading on October 7 2001 and “Operation Enduring Freedom” eliminated those pesky heroin meddlers. Now production is back on track with record breaking bumper crops. Operation Enduring Poppy Freedom was a complete success.

poppy production

a reply to: abe froman

We tell the world we fight a war on drugs, and yet we're the ones that prop up the opiate industry and prop up the illegal money laundering at the international banks to the tune of millions and billions of dollars. It's the United States that's the main catalyst for all this.

The thing that troubles me most about my country is that the majority of the people in it will not accept the United States admitting they were wrong. The majority of these people in this country won't accept the United States apologizing when they are wrong. I'm not that way. I think we ought to admit when we're wrong, and I think we should apologize when we're wrong.

Your mistake is saying this was an unintended consequence.
We had no need to going in to Afghanistan until the Taliban destroyed the poppy crop.
If we didn't want the heroin our soldiers wouldn't be guarding the fields.
The government is very good at acting inept, I assure you their greed and lust for power make them quite good at what they do - the biggest part of which seems to be deceiving the rest of us.

We've been playing this game for 150 years along with the British and led to our messing with China for the duration.

Well, that was the original intent of the British and the US while going into afghanistan. To use their poppies cultivation to attempt to re-ignite a drug war against Russia and China. It didn't work too well and only the west got invaded by these drugs at an unprecedented scale. The whole idea behind the war on drugs is actually a war of drugs....

the new movie Brad pitt is in. War Machine I think it was called is a good one to watch. Vague.. but not spun to bad really surprisingly.