bers of the Working Group represented independent, autonomous agencies and bureaus, each with a different frame of reference and each with a different approach to the problem, the meetings resulted in arguments, and that in decisions are reached. As a result, the anti- nareoties effort is conducted on a personal relationship basis. Thús system cannot work, however, unless there are dedicated full-time individuals with full authority to represent the agencies and the White House.
This pretty well sums up the shortcomings in the U.S. organiza- tion to combat drugs on an international level. Petty bureaucratic jealousies over jurisdiction have inhibited the activities of the Cabinet Committee. This in turn has hampered efforts to mobilize the full resources and to coordinate the agencies of the Federal Government involved in the anti-narcotics struggle. Fortunately this situation does not appear to be as severe in Southeast Asia as it is in Washington. While minor personnel and bureaucratic tensions do arise from time to time, for the most part the representatives of the different agencies, departments, and bureaus work closely with each other and the prob lems that are present in Washington do not seem to have been exported.
THE NARCOTICS SITUATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
ORIUM PRODUCTION IN THe Golden Triangle
The remote Golden Triangle area of Northern Thailand. Eastern Burun, and Wistem Laos produces more than one-half (700 tons)of The world's illicit opium (9290-1,210 tons), (See map No. 1.)
Efforts to control the production of opium in the Golden Triangle have been unsuccessful. There are several reasons for this.
First, opium represents the only cash crop for the tribes produeing it. In many cases, the cash that opium brings, or the opiuin itself, is used to purchase, or barter for," the arms, ammunition, and supplies needed to support the insurgent groups that operate throughout the
area.
Second, most poppy growers are simple hill tribesmen who are unaware of the dimensions of the world heroin problem. The tribes have accepted the use of opium and its derivatives for centuries, and appear to be unaware of the fact that the opium they produce con- fributes to a serious cultural and sociological probleni in the United States and around the world.
The most important factor hindering effective control of opium production, however, must be attributed to the fact that the area has not been under the control of any government and as a matter of fact has been dominated by the several insurgent groups that operate in the Golden Triangle.
The governments involved have been plagued by civil wars and insurgencies for over two decades. Given the inability of the Govern. ments of Burma, Laos, and Thailand to assert effective administrative and political control over flis area, it is unlikely that the production of opium can be stopped, at least in the foreseeable future.
Unfortunately, once the opium or heroin gets into the international smuggling network, at least part of it will reach the addict in the United States. For when the illegal product fans out from the Golden Triangle, it becomes increasingly difficult to intercept. The following map shows the probable sunggling routes from the Golden Triangle. Nevertheless, if the worldwide scourge of heroin is to be con- trolled, or eliminated, it is imperative that the governments in South- east Asia take positive action to inhibit the production and smuggling of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin.
To augment the fight against heroin, all governments must improve their enforcement capability. They must take action to intercept smugglers as they come out of the Golden Triangle before the narcotics
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