Last night, I was speaking with a Coloradan who told me the law enforcement community in Colorado Springs is struggling with highly potent Afghan drugs coming into the area from US soldiers flying back from service there, and bringing the stuff home in their gear. They're allegedly selling it to area dealers. Today by happenstance I found myself talking to a federal drug enforcement official, and asked him if there was anything to that. Yes, he said, this really is a problem with some troops coming back from the Afghan front. The military is trying to keep a lid on it, but it's a serious situation, this man told me. ]
Anybody hear anything about this one way or another?
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Don't have any specific knowledge, but it sounds right. European blogs and press have been reporting about this for several years. Reason that EU and NATO asked for a greater presence in Afghanistan. Not, with the exception of the British, to go south in the nation and fight, but to attempt to intervene the opium trade which is having a devastating effect on Western Europe. If they are concerned, it most likely is coming in to the Colorado Springs area through Fort Carson (Army) and Peterson AFB.
Have not seen this mentioned on the milblogs I follow or in any of the Army War College writings. Not sure they would want to make it public TBH. It is possible, maybe even probable that it is becoming a problem. This is the longest deployment in our history of troops into constantly active combat. WWII was shorter and was more of a war of battles rather than everyday attacks. Maybe some are breaking down a bit.
Steve
Rodney,
Know your history. Such foolishness happened during Vietnam. And whomever controls the opium controls Asia. That's long been the story, especially in the third-world setups (sans Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, parts of China, etc.) that remain in Asia.
Opium means money. Money means guns. Guns mean power.
That's Asia.
I was under the impression that most heroin was refined outside of Afghanistan (in Central Asia, or Pakistan, or Iran), so that it would be difficult for US soldiers to have too much access to heroin.
Let's be honest. Vietnam saw the illegal importation by us airforce cargo planes of large shipments in heroin/opium. The Iran contra war efforts we had in Panama saw huge military importation of crack cocaine. The war of afghan now brings with it vast ammounts of opium back into the states for illegal heroin and to produce the morphine the US annually gobbles up. Opium production has increased over 2000% since we invaded. The Taliban were actually coordinating with the UN to try and rid afghan of it's opium farms. The US has not gotten involved in a non political war and without corporations benefiting from the war since ww2
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