The U.S One mine th commit involve East. E instruc yond t on the involv few ex Figure abuse public some Spu has b probl East. abuse actio not c is re lack of th A the men He acti bili I anc tion ho rat Col pr B b a I' C 4 wth and abuse of opium and its derivatives is traditional with of the 275,000 hill tribesmen living in northern Thailand. FightBurma and China forced hill tribes into the area. These tribes e the Mieo and the Yao; both are culturally close to the Chinese. brought with them the practice of growing and smoking opium re considered the primary growers of opium in northern nd today. They have been permitted to settle in the country it disturbance to their tribal integrity. e of the ethnic Chinese groups in the tri-border area are frey referred to as Chinese Irregular Forces or as the KMT ars. Many of these groups are led by, and include within their the Chinese Nationalist troops who fled China in 1949 to escape ›mmunist takeover. A larger portion of the approximately 4,000 s" of the Chinese Irregular Forces are natives of the area and -generation offspring of the many inter-marriages with natives area. In the 1950's a vigorous effort by local governments d in the removal to Taiwan of several thousand of the Chinand escapees and their dependents. The remnants have, since their maintained a paramilitary status as a matter of necessity, to e against various hostile governments in whose areas they have . Many of these groups hire out as mercenary military units to nerchants and traders and occasionally to local governments. have involved themselves in various commercial enterprises, ng opium traffic. They have become involved with opium as number of other ethnic groups in the area, primarily as a means iting from the area's only cash-crop-currently the sole available of exceeding a subsistence-level existence. ing the trip, a law was passed in Laos making possession of illegal. It is too early to evaluate the effects of the law on the etion of opium in the area. tion and transportation of opium and its derivatives tri-border area is rugged, mountainous and dense. Opium is on mountainsides at the three to seven thousand foot level. elatively easy to identify potential poppy fields from the air; er, positive identification is not possible without the use of equipment. ing the harvest, which usually occurs during January and Febthe poppy bulb is sliced. From this incision oozes a gum which nd turns dark brown. This is raw opium. Merchants transport ium to assembling and distribution localities, forming so-called a caravans." h opium is converted in a "refinery" to smoking opium by cookn water, screening out twigs and other foreign matters, pouring water and allowing the substance to harden. At times, various nces are added before smoking. In various parts of the Malay ula, smoking opium contains a pigskin additive, which is reto make the smoke more aromatic. In South Vietnam, opium egetable additives is not unusual. This opium, although genused for smoking, can also be soaked in water and hypoder/ injected. re drying, opium can undergo a laboratory process and be conto morphine. The morphine-based opiate, termed 999 (the ation of a World War II, Burma-based Nationalist Chinese army 5 outfit), is marketable in most Asian countries, especially Singapore. It can be chipped into a powder, liquified, and injected. "Red rock" or "number 3" heroin is a by-product of the morphine process. Red rock heroin contains a low percentage of heroin and is almost exclusively smoked. Most of the drug abuse by the tribesmen of northern Thailand consists of smoking opium or red rock heroin. Few Asians "mainline” heroin. Morphine can undergo a second laboratory process and be converted into heroin hydrochloride, which is "white" or "number 4" heroin. Annual production of opium in the tri-border area is estimated by the Department of State to be in the volume of 650 to 800 metric tons: 400 tons from the northern insurgent-controlled hills of Burma, 150 to 200 tons in the northern hills of Thailand and from 50 to 100 tons in Laos. The Department of Defense and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs estimate that 1,000 tons of opium will be produced in the tri-border area this year. During 1970 only 400 tons were produced in Turkey. The fantastic profit involved in the production and sale of opium and its derivatives is shown by the following table: Raw opium: TABLE A.-JUNE, 1971 AVERAGE SELLING PRICE OF OPIATES BY AREA Hill tribe remote areas in the tri-border area of Thailand, U.S. Dollars per kilogram 30-40 75-90 125-175 165-200 70-75 100-125 175-250 600 200-300 350-400 450-500 above 700 990 90-100 300-400 2,000-2, 500 2, 100 10,000 18, 000-25, 000 During 1970, sixteen refineries producing opium, morphine or heroin were identified in the tri-border area. Only three were producing heroin. As of August 1 of this year, of the 24 refineries which had been identified, 16 were producing heroin. According to a representative of Thailand's Central Bureau of Narcotics based in Chiang Mai, most refineries are located approximately ten kilometers from the Thai border near Tachilek, Burma, the only sizable town near the tri-border area. He believes that most factories are approximately ten kilometers from the Thai border ngh probably only a few are located in Thailand. The most likely near Fang, where many KMT live. Refineries occasionally are ed in Bangkok. 6 A considerable amount of opium is grown for local consumption. It is generally assumed that no ethnic Thais are involved in the growing or transportation of the product from its source. Virtually all traders have been identified as ethnic Chinese although some have taken Thai names. The principal convoy route is from Mae Sai, located near the Burma-Thailand border north of Chiang Rai, south along an all-weather highway to Bangkok. Thai military sources state that opium presently is being transported by air into South Vietnam from Huai Sai, Laos and Tachilek, Burma. It is also reported that many shipments of opiates to Vietnam are by civilian couriers on commercial airlines from Vientiane, Laos. Shipments from Thailand Most opiates shipped from Bangkok are transported to Hong Kong, where they are redistributed to South Vietnam, Okinawa, Japan, the United States and other countries. Some shipments go directly from Bangkok to South Vietnam. Four operative "systems" transporting heroin directly to the United States have been identified. One group of ex-servicemen is shipping heroin via army post offices to U.S. military installations. Shipments from this source have been seized at Walter Reed Army Hospital and at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. Two groups, both consisting of ex-servicemen and contract employees, are located in Okinawa. One has a source in Bangkok, the other in Hong Kong. From Okinawa both groups engage in transportation of heroin by body packs into the United States. A fourth target is Philippine citizens who fly to Geneva via the United States transferring body packs of heroin to sources in this country. In the past, little attention has been given to these persons because of their transient status. Because military officials lack the authority to inspect first class mail at the mailing points, little can be done to retard shipments by mail from U.S. servicemen. U.S. officials are extremely concerned over the implications of the scheduled opening of a new military post office 60 miles east of Chiang Mai at Lampang, the future site of a space tracking station. Approximately 250 Air Force personnel will man the station. The drug abuse problem among U.S. military forces stationed in Thailand On June 24, 1971, the Air Force implemented a comprehensive plan to screen and detoxify military personnel departing Thailand. On July 23rd the rest of the military services followed suit. Like their counterparts in Vietnam, military personnel stationed in Thailand have been instructed not to reveal statistics stemming from the screening of returning service-members. Results of a recent military survey of enlisted men reveal that 4.5 percent admitted heroin use. Approximately 8 percent of first-termers responding to the survey admitted to heroin abuse. Twenty-three percent of all surveyed admitted to the use of some drugs while in Southeast Asia. On July 26, 1971, the Fifth Field Hospital began receiving military drug abusers for detoxification. Between that date and August 10th, 23 patients were admitted to the hospital's detoxification unit. Because the program was initiated only recently, it is not possible to assess its efficacy. U.S. Government activities against drug traffic Representatives of the Bureau of Norcotics and Dangerous Drugs. 7 relationship with Thai officials. BNDD officials, who are attached to the United States embassy, are based in Bangkok and Chiang Mai. Embassy officials have been instrumental in forming an Illicit Drug Control Committee under the chairmanship of the Deputy Chief of Mission. It includes representatives from the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs, the U.S. military, the United States Information Service, the U.S. Overseas Mission and the Regional Economic Development Agency. The committee has submitted to the Department of State for approval a $1,193,000 program designed to pose economic alternatives to the opium producer, assist in law enforcement activities, provide medical care and rehabilitation of addicts. and initiate an educational program directed against drug abuse. To date, no money has been programed to implement the committee's recommendations. Thai law enforcement attempts Despite the King's clear support of attempts to eradicate opiates and the Thai government's official position of cooperation with United States officials, positive actions have been minimal. Most Thai officials discount their government's responsibilities and place the blame on the countries to which drug traffic flows. The 1966 pamphlet, "Thailand's Hill Tribes", by General Prapas Charusathira, Minister of the Interior and Chairman of the Hill Tribes Welfare Committee, reflects this attitude: Several of the larger tribes derive their income from opium cultivation. The real culprits in the Thailand opium trade are the consumers in London, Sydney and New York. Thai attempts to eradicate the growth and distribution of opium and its derivatives are failing. Despite an apparently cooperative police effort and a sincere desire by the King to develop crop substitution programs, the poppy fields in northern Thailand are flourishing, the number of refineries is increasing and shipments from tri-border countries travel the Mae Sai-Bangkok highway virtually unimpeded. The number of men and amount of modern equipment devoted to the effort are minimal. The only law enforcement agency in the area, the Border Patrol Police, consists of approximately 1,000 men responsible for 1,079 kilometers of border-about one man per mile. Although the BPP evidences concern about its obligation to interdict the incoming flow of opium across these borders, insurgency by Chinese communists and thirteen Burma based rebel groups has forced the BPP to accept pressing military concerns as its primary mission. Leaders of the BPP reason that unless and until border security against communist insurgency is established, it cannot establish effective border integrity against the illicit importation of opiates. The commander of one of the Border Patrol Police units, whose troops were engaged in a counterinsurgency operation at the time he briefed subcommittee members in Chiang Khan, clearly accepted as one of his responsibilities the support of programs such as crop substitution designed to discourage the hill people from cultivating the poppy. However, it appeared that practically of his troops were involved in combat operations at the time. Despite the fact that the communist insurgents are equipped with AK-47's, a Russian-made automatic weapon similar to the U.S. ༈ 16, weapons used by the police and their supporters predate |