TNAG-0416-FCO40-462-Review-of-narcotics-problem-in-Hong-Kong-1973 — Page 118

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This money is deposited in the Bank of China in Hong Kong. It is used to purchase machinery from Europe and to finance secret agents serving in the Far East. In Burma, Laos and Thailand, Chinese Communist agents sell narcotics at low prices to tribal leaders and sympathetic local organizations. One kilogram of raw opium is sold locally for only 30 U.S. (0.7 oz gold). Chinese guerilla troops in northern Thailand are reported to have issued morphine based medicines to villagers to alleviate their pains. These devices are effective in gaining the support of local tribes for Communist guerilla forces operating in these areas. The border area between Yunnan, Burma and Thailand has become a major international distributing centre where illicit distributing companies enjoy the covert protection of the Chinese Communist Ministry of Foreign Trade. The importance of this source of supply in the global drug control problem has enormously increased now that Turkey has been virtually eliminated as a major source of world supply.

The general problem of heroin addiction presents an alarming picture, since it enslaves and destroys the victim in a covert manner which is extremely difficult to detect and control. More specifically, when heroin assails troops in the field, the fighting effectiveness of units can be severely undermined before the troops even enter a combat situation. In 1970, the Buenos Aires Herald published a report by the Narcotics Investigation Group of the U.S. Senate, on the condition of U.S. servicemen in Vietnam. This report revealed that the Chinese Communists have been selling quantities of high grade heroin (90-100% pure) in Vietnam. The price was only 20% per oz compared with a U.S. price of 4,000 %. The number of addicts among U.S. servicemen and officers in Vietnam has risen in 1970 from 30% to about 60%. Of all troops stationed there U.S. troops on leave in Thailand are exposed to narcotics cheaply available in Bangkok. Statistics based on troop casualties due to heroin overdosages indicate that a significant rise in the heroin influx into Vietnam followed shortly the Cambodian invasion in the Spring of 1970.

The uniformity of packaging and refining the heroin pointed to a single highly organized national source.

The covert dissemination of opium narcotics, in particular the addictive drug heroin, for commercial and subversive purposes represents one of the gravest threats to the armed services and societies of the free world. The subversive operation must be recognized as a peculiar form of clandestine chemical warfare, in which the victim voluntarily exposes himself to chemical attack. The immediate effects of exposure are not

death or disablement, but a growing susceptibility to addiction.

The established addict becomes a security liability, an individual focus of subversion and disaffection, and finally a hospital case. This technique of warfare lies right outside the Geneva Protocol. It strikes at the roots of society. Effective steps to combat it must follow the established techniques of counter-subversion, based on efficient police intelligence, search and arrest procedures and political action. The entry of China into the United Nations may aggravate the threat from China by opening trade and communication channels to the West, which could be exploited by traffickers. On the credit side, some degree of political control of the problem through the Narcotics Commission and the Control Board should now be feasible. The success of such measures will rest with Peking.

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