ANTH 106: Drugs Across Cultures

(2018)
Political Economy of Opiates

Guest lecturer: Paul Cohen

Macquarie University
 Botanical and pharmacological
characteristics of opiates
• Opium is the sap of a particular kind of poppy (Papaver
somniferum).

• Morphine is one of the 23 alkaloids found in opium. The

morphine content of opium is about 10 per cent.

• Heroin is a synthesis of morphine and the industrial acid,

acetic anhydride.
 Opium: Areas of Cultivation

• Areas of illicit cultivation:

a. Golden Triangle (N.E. Burma/Myanmar, N.Thailand ,

N.Laos)

b. Golden Crescent (parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan and

Iran)

• Opium is cultivated legally for pharmaceuticals in 19

countries including India, China, Japan, Turkey, France,
U.K. and Australia (Tasmania).
Regions of opium cultivation
 The Trocki thesis
Carl A. Trocki Opium, Empire and the Global Political
Economy, Routledge: Londondon&NY, 1999
• The development of capitalism in Europe was linked to
the expansion of drugs and drug economies.

• Drugs (alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee, sugar) provided the

first mass consumer markets due to their addictive
qualities.

• The problem of the tea trade with China: drain on

European silver supplies.

• Opium as the solution to the trade deficit with China.

 Trocki thesis (cont.)

• In 1773 the East India Company (EIC) was granted a monopoly over
production and sale of opium, following British colonisation.

• Opium became a fully capitalist commodity – mass produced and with

a mass consumer market:

a. Opium cultivated, under strict control, in Bengal by more than a

million farmers.

b. EIC created a well organised system of packaging, storage, pricing

and quality control.

c. The mass market was China and S.E.Asia.

Opium cultivating regions of north-eastern
India (Benares and Bihar states)
Drying balls of opium in Patna factory
ca. 1851(Trocki 1999, p.73)
 Opium addiction and mass consumer
markets
• 15 million Chinese opium addicts by 1830s.

• Opium Wars (1839-42;1856-58) fought by Britain to

maintain lucrative trade.

• Legalisation of opium imports (1860) encouraged local

cultivation in S.W. China (Yunnan, Sichuan) by hill tribes
(e.g. Hmong, Yao).

• Opium production reached 30,000-40,000 tons by 1906.

• 40 million opium addicts in China by 1890.

 Opium addiction and mass consumer
markets (cont.)
• Migration of Chinese to S.E Asia due to famines in south
China.

• Colonial governments established opium dens for Chinese

addicts. Opium Monopolies sold opium imported from India
to licensed Chinese merchants.

• By 1930: 6,000 government opium dens in S.E. Asia

supplying about 500,000 registered addicts.

• Chinese opium merchants formed interconnected

syndicates which allowed rapid accumulation of capital and
investment in commodity production (e.g. spices, mining)
and first Asian banks.
 Opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle

• Opium first cultivated in GT region by hill tribes (e.g.

Hmong, Yao) who fled from China in late 19th cent. in
response to Chinese military campaigns.

• Local opium cultivation at first discouraged by Opium

Monopolies as threat to profits.

• But local cultivation encouraged during World War 11

due to problem of obtaining supplies from India and
Middle East.
 Post-war surge in opium cultivation in
Golden Triangle

• Early 1970s =1000 tons (70 per cent of global illicit

production). Mid 1990s = 2500 tons (50% of global illicit
production).

• Major cause: ethnic insurgency and warlordism in N.E.

Burma in response to uncompromising centralist policies
of Burma’s military government from early 1960s.

• By 1990s there were 16 armed ethnic groups (40 armies)

in rebellion against central government. Most armies
trafficked in opiates to finance rebellions.
 Causes of rapid increase in opium
production in Afghanistan
• Opiate production in Afghanistan has exceeded that of
GT since mid 1990s, largely due to insurgency,
warlordism and a weak central government.

• Islamic guerrilla groups (mujaheddin) financed war

against Soviet Union by collecting taxes in opium.

• 1989-1996: Rival mujaheddin factions financed fighting

in civil war with profits from opiates.

• 1996-2000: Taliban expanded opium production by a

20% tax on drug shipments by traffickers.
• Taliban prohibited opium cultivation in July 2000 but after
9/11 and defeat in 2001 it has renewed dependence on
opium to fund guerrilla war against central govt. and win
support from local farmers.

• Pro- government warlords also invest heavily in opium

cultivation and trafficking.

• This led to a surge in opium production to 7,400 tonnes

in 2007 (93% of world’s illicit supply). Record high of
9,000 tonnes in 2017.
Failure of “War on Drugs” supply eradication

•Global opium production has increased from 1,000 tons in 1970 to

10,000 tons in 2017 – an obvious failure of supply eradication.
Reasons:
• “Balloon effect”: eradication success in one area leads to expansion
in another area .

•Opium eradicated in Thailand in mid 1980s due to govt. inceased

political control over highland opium-growing areas and successful
alternative development programs. However, opium cultivation
expanded in Laos and Myanmar (Burma).
•.
 Failure of supply eradication (cont.)

• Eradication campaign in Laos (2000-2005) stimulated

increased production in Myanmar due to price rises
combined with increased demand for heroin in China.
Myanmar (2017): 550 tonnes.

• Decline from peak production in mid-1990s (1,760

tonnes) compensated by increased opium cultivation in
Afghanistan and methamphetamine manufacture in N.E.
Myanmar.
 Failure of supply eradication (cont.)

Advantages of opiates to traders and growers

Traders:
•High prices in global mass markets allow high profit margins, even
where there a large number of middlemen dealers.

•High profits compensate for high risks.

•Durability of opiates.

•High profit-to-weight ratio.

 Failure of supply eradication (cont.)

Poor tribal and peasant growers

•Transport of opium to markets usually not necessary as traders willing

to buy ‘at the doorstep’ (due to high profit-to weight ratio).

•Opium requires minimal capital investment (but is labour intensive).

•Opium usually more profitable than alternative crops. Alternative

development often fails due to poor transport and markets.
 Failure of supply eradication (cont.)

• Opium is an ideal crop in situations of population pressure,

government land-use restrictions and consequent land scarcity.

• Opium is often a “coping mechanism” in conditions of poverty and

shortage of staple crops (e.g rice).

• Opium has economic advantages in conditions of political anarchy:

easily stored and hidden and can serve as a form of transportable
capital when villagers forced to move, and then later sold for food.
 Summary

• Role of colonial governments in growth of opium

cultivation in India, China and S.E. Asia and mass
markets in China and S.E.Asia.

• The role of opium in the early development of capitalism

in Asia.

• Post World War 11 opium booms in Golden Triangle and

Golden Crescent leading to massive increase opium
cultivation over past 50 yrs approx.
 Summary

• Failure of drug war eradication due to:

a. Weak states and political instability (warlordism and
insurgency financed by drug profits)

b. ”Balloon effect”: eradication and relocation of

cultivation under conditions of stable or increased
demand.

c. Economic advantages of opiates for traders and

growers.
Anthropologist in Hmong village (N.Thailand,
1968)