U.S. DRUG REPORTS DIFFER

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-01601R000300170002-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 6, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: August 19, 1972
• Content Type: NSPR

WASHINGTON STAR
ecp ease 2001 /( 39/ ~ 611-FSqR j 6
By MICHAEL SATCIIELL
. Star-News Staff Writer
While secret intelligence re-
ports over the past 18 months
have presented a gloomy as-
sessment of America's' world-
wide efforts to hamper inter-
national narcotics trafficking,
the White House and the Jus-
tice Department have careful-
ly fostered the opposite image
- that the government was
making ?signifieant- gains in the
fight against opium, heroin
and cocaine smuggling.
In speeches and press re-
leases, officials heralded Tur-
key's agreement to halt opium
? poppy production, the increas-
ed cooperation with foreign
governments and record sei-
Among the major points In
the summaries:
o Prohibiting the growth of
opium poppies in Turkey is no
guarantee against illegal culti-
vation, which has been around
100 tons a year.
o The Turkish agreement will
have minimal impact on well
established European snuib
gling pipelines that will easily
switch from Turkey to Yugo-
slavia, Persia and Afghanistan.
for opium supplies. .
o "Extra-legal 'actions such
as flooding markets with
harmless or aggravating hero-
in substitutes to destroy the
trade's credibility, destruction
of narcotics factories by hiring
criminal or non-official ele-
zures of narcotics as hard evi- meats, pay-offs of corrupted
dence that the battle was well officials as all income substi-
on its way to being won. tute, ' and defoliation, are high-
Dr. Jerome Jaffe, special ly problematical, but- should
.consultant to the president on not be. rejected out of hand."
narcotics, and John E. Inger- o The trade cannot flourish
1soll,'. head of the Bureau of
IN a r c o t i c s and Dangerous without corrupt civil servants
Drugs, ealle~ them "major and police in key positions. In 11
'breakthroughs" and "mile- the U u 1 g a r i a n Customs .
stones in the cooperative ef- Game" for example, govern-
'fort ? with ? foreign govern- ment officials sell to French
meats. traffickers opium that Bulgar-
Thursday, the government ?ian customs officials have con-
entitled fiscatted from smugglers. The
released a report
smugglers often
"Worrd Opium Survey, 1972" pay small
that reflected in part what in- fines and can even buy back
'telligence networks had been their own narcotics seized ear
tier
saying for months. .
But 'while the report ac- o Despite increased narcotics
knowledged that things were seizures, no -critical shortage
not as rosy as pictured earlier, , has been observed on the illicit
it still glossed over most of the market.
acts and conclusions con-
tained in Central Intelligence
Agency and BNDD summaries
that suggest the United States
has , only touched the tip of the
world narcotics problem.
'These summaries, stamped
"Secret, No Foreign Dissemi-
nation," survey narcotics pro-
duction and s in u g g l i n g
throughout Asia, Europe, Cen-
tral and South America. ?
They detail widespread com-.
plicity by officials in several
countries, suggest "extra-
legal" actions the United
States 'could consider, empha-
size that the Turkish agree-
ment will have little effect on
the U.S. heroin problem, note
that Vietnam war require-
ments have hampered the nar-
cotics fight, and conclude that
the massive effort by the Unit-:
ed States and other nations
has had littlr~rgle_rr-iicnt'.
effect on lYl~h rte,
ics trade.
e The probability of eliminat-
ing the trade in cocaine -
currently the fastest growing
hard narcotic used in the Unit-
ed States - is nil.
The CIA and ?BNDD intelli-
gence summaries spell out in
vivid detail- the enormous
problems facing the United
States' in trying to curtail the
highly organized and . im-
mensely profitable internation-
al narcotics trade.
state. 'rench and United
Kingdom T officials have also
voiced their belief that Bulgar-
ian 'government officials may
be actively involved in selling
seized Turkish narcotics to
French traffickers.",
As South America emerges
as an important transshipment
pint for narcotics entering the
United States, there are mdi-
ations of. increased produc-
tion of opium poppies in some
Latin countries including the
Columbia-Equador border and
Costa Rica.
Cuban exiles and Puerto RI-.
can nationals are playing key
roles in the trade and produc-
tion is switching from mari-
juana to the more profitable
cocaine and heroin.
Illicit opium production, for ?
example, is estimated at
something between 1,200 and
1,400 tons each year. To pro-
duce enough heroin to satisfy
American addicts and users,
only 40 tons 'of opium are re-
quired. ' '
Turkish opium was furnish-
ing' about 80 percent of the
heroin destined for the United
St tes wit tie emainder
Asa 1 43AWaCIARDP80-01601 R000300170002-2
small amount from the Gold-
en Trangle area of Laos-Thai-
The CIA reports state that in,/ by or in collusion with the
Burma, the most important crew."
nation in the Golden Triangle ; In recent years, the .Golden
and which produces about 460 ? Triangle area has, begun to
tons of opium annually,. the produce finished heroin prod-
United States -is virtually im- ucts for shipment rather than
potent in its enforcement op- 'simply raw opium or mor-
portunities. phine base from ' which the
"Opportunities to exert in- heroin is made. t
fluence are extremely- limit- The technology of ruining
ed," the reports say. "Lack of opium into heroin is no more
'U.S. leverage. suggests the complex than snaking bootleg
"
in the United States
whisk
,
y
best hope lies with the United ?
countering
a CIA report says
'
,
Burmese
Nations.
officials are 1V the popular image of compli-
WLU 1111111.n1y ?
ported in collusion with smug-, Gated heroin ,;laboratories.
glers." Pressure in Europe is creat-
fug shifts in
In neighboring Thailand, the
West - Germany
ging as a major narcotics
Royal Thai Army and Customs storage and staging area with
at the several checkpoints 14ltumich, Frankfurt and Ham-
burg the route to Bangkok are burg the principal centers.
usually bribed and 'protection' The role of Bulgaria in re-
fees prepaid by the smuggling cent years has "increased tre-
syndicate or by the driver at
the checkpoints." mendously" and the Connu-
nist nation is used as safe
marics report, "most of it is "Sofia has been described as
probably smuggled aboard the new center for directing
military. or. commercial air narcotics and arms trafficking
flights' including -Royal Air between western Europe and
Laos and Air Vietnam, often, the Near East," the reports
haven from which major nar-