Editing Heroin (section)

=====Trafficking history=====
[[File:HeroinWorld-en.svg|thumb|400px|Primary worldwide producers of heroin]]

The origins of the present international illegal heroin trade can be traced back to laws passed in many countries in the early 1900s that closely regulated the production and sale of opium and its derivatives including heroin. At first, heroin flowed from countries where it was still legal into countries where it was no longer legal. By the mid-1920s, heroin production had been made illegal in many parts of the world. An illegal trade developed at that time between heroin labs in China (mostly in Shanghai and Tianjin) and other nations. The weakness of the government in China and conditions of civil war enabled heroin production to take root there. Chinese [[Triad society|triad]] gangs eventually came to play a major role in the illicit heroin trade. The [[French Connection]] route started in the 1930s.

Heroin trafficking was virtually eliminated in the US during [[World War II]] because of temporary trade disruptions caused by the war. Japan's war with China had cut the normal distribution routes for heroin and the war had generally disrupted the movement of opium. After World War II, [[Sicilian Mafia|the Mafia]] took advantage of the weakness of the postwar Italian government and set up heroin labs in Sicily which was located along the historic route opium took westward into Europe and the United States.<ref>Eric C. Schneider, ''Smack: Heroin and the American City'', University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008, chapter one</ref> Large-scale international heroin production effectively ended in China with the victory of the communists in the civil war in the late 1940s.{{Citation needed|date=December 2008}} The elimination of Chinese production happened at the same time that Sicily's role in the trade developed.

Although it remained legal in some countries until after World War II, health risks, addiction, and widespread recreational use led most western countries to declare heroin a controlled substance by the latter half of the 20th century. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the [[CIA]] supported anti-Communist Chinese Nationalists settled near the [[China|Sino]]-Burmese border and [[Hmong people|Hmong]] tribesmen in [[Laos]]. This helped the development of the [[Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)|Golden Triangle]] opium production region, which supplied about one-third of heroin consumed in the US after the 1973 American withdrawal from Vietnam. In 1999, Burma, the heartland of the Golden Triangle, was the second-largest producer of heroin, after [[Afghanistan]].<ref name="Afghan_Burmese_heroin">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1590827.stm|title=War Views: Afghan heroin trade will live on.|date=October 2001|work=Richard Davenport-Hines|publisher=BBC|access-date=30 October 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090115095732/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1590827.stm|archive-date=15 January 2009}}</ref>

The Soviet-Afghan war led to increased production in the Pakistani-Afghan border regions, as US-backed [[mujaheddin]] militants raised money for arms from selling opium, contributing heavily to the modern [[Golden Crescent]] creation. By 1980, 60 percent of the heroin sold in the US originated in Afghanistan.<ref name="Afghan_Burmese_heroin"/> It increased international production of heroin at lower prices in the 1980s. The trade shifted away from Sicily in the late 1970s as various criminal organizations violently fought with each other over the trade. The fighting also led to a stepped-up government law enforcement presence in Sicily.

Following the discovery at a Jordanian airport of a [[toner cartridge]] that had been modified into an [[improvised explosive device]], the resultant increased level of airfreight scrutiny led to a major shortage (drought) of heroin from October 2010 until April 2011. This was reported in most of mainland Europe and the UK which led to a price increase of approximately 30 percent in the cost of street heroin and increased demand for diverted [[methadone]]. The number of addicts seeking treatment also increased significantly during this period. Other heroin droughts (shortages) have been attributed to cartels restricting supply in order to force a price increase and also to a fungus that attacked the opium crop of 2009. Many people{{weasel inline|date=April 2014}} thought that the American government had introduced pathogens into the Afghanistan atmosphere in order to destroy the opium crop and thus starve insurgents of income.{{citation needed|date=April 2014}}

On 13 March 2012, [[Haji Bagcho]], with ties to the [[Taliban]], was convicted by a US District Court of conspiracy, distribution of heroin for importation into the United States and [[narco-terrorism]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Sentenced To Life in Prison on Narco-Terrorism, Drug Trafficking Charges – Funded Taliban, Responsible for Almost 20 Percent of World's Heroin Production, More Than a Quarter-Billion in Drug Proceeds, Property Forfeited|url=http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/news/story/haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-narco-terrorism-drug-trafficking-charges/838118|website=The Aiken Leader|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615215354/http://aikenleader.villagesoup.com/news/story/haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-narco-terrorism-drug-trafficking-charges/838118|archive-date=15 June 2012}}</ref><ref name="justice2006">{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Convicted by Federal Jury in Washington, D.C., on Drug Trafficking and Narco-terrorism Charges – Afghan National Trafficked More Than 123,000 Kilograms of Heroin in 2006|date=13 March 2012 |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-320.html|publisher=US Department of Justice|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120713015227/http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/March/12-crm-320.html|archive-date=13 July 2012}}</ref><ref name="surfky1">{{cite web|title=Haji Bagcho Sentenced to Life in Prison on Trafficking/Narco-Terrorism Charges|url=http://surfky.com/index.php/news/national/15973-haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-traffickingnarco-terrorism-charges|publisher=Surfky News|access-date=7 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116103054/http://surfky.com/index.php/news/national/15973-haji-bagcho-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-on-traffickingnarco-terrorism-charges |archive-date=16 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="foster1">{{cite web| vauthors = Foster Z |title=Haji Bagcho, One of World's Largest Heroin Traffickers, Convicted on Drug Trafficking, Narco-Terrorism Charges|date=23 March 2012 |url=http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2012/03/haji-bagcho-one-of-worlds-largest.html|publisher=War on Terrorism Online|access-date=7 June 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116143405/http://terrorism-online.blogspot.com/2012/03/haji-bagcho-one-of-worlds-largest.html|archive-date=16 January 2014}}</ref><ref name="tucker1">{{cite news| vauthors = Tucker E |title=Afghan heroin trafficker gets life in US prison |url=http://www.katu.com/news/national/158797915.html |access-date=7 June 2012 |newspaper=Associated Press |date=12 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514223906/http://www.katu.com/news/national/158797915.html |archive-date=14 May 2013}}</ref> Based on heroin production statistics<ref>{{cite web|title=2007 WORLD DRUG REPORT|url=http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf|publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime|access-date=26 July 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120912022032/http://www.unodc.org/pdf/research/wdr07/WDR_2007.pdf|archive-date=12 September 2012}}</ref> compiled by the [[United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime]], in 2006, Bagcho's activities accounted for approximately 20 percent of the world's total production for that year.<ref name="justice2006"/><ref name="surfky1"/><ref name="foster1"/><ref name="tucker1"/>