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Alfred W. McCoy

The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade Paperback – May 1, 2003

by Alfred W. McCoy (Author)

106 ratings

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The first book to prove CIA and U.S. government complicity in global drug trafficking, The Politics of Heroin includes meticulous documentation of dishonesty and dirty dealings at the highest levels from the Cold War until today. Maintaining a global perspective, this groundbreaking study details the mechanics of drug trafficking in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South and Central America. New chapters detail U.S. involvement in the narcotics trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan before and after the fall of the Taliban, and how U.S. drug policy in Central America and Colombia has increased the global supply of illicit drugs.

Print length

734 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Lawrence Hill Books
Publication date

May 1, 2003
Dimensions

6 x 1.5 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1556524838
ISBN-13

978-1556524837
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A fascinating, often meticulous unraveling of the byzantine complexities of the Southeast Asia drug trade . . . a pioneering book.” —The New York Times Book Review

About the Author

Alfred W. McCoy is a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He holds a doctorate in southeast Asian history from Yale University and is the recipient of the 2001 Goodman Prize from the Association for Asian Studies. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lawrence Hill Books; Revised edition (May 1, 2003)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 734 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1556524838
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1556524837
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.2 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.5 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #59,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #103 in Asian Politics
- #171 in Political Intelligence
- #256 in Criminology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
106 ratings

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5 star		87%
4 star		9%
3 star		1%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Russell Dobkins

This is excellent reading for those who really want to know what ...

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2017

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This exposes the CIA's drug running out of the Golden Triangle during the Vietnam War, and also the Cocaine out of South America, and the Heroin out of Afghanistan. Powerful, well documented book. A real history that every graduate student should read. McCoy has a new book out which is up to date to 2017. I just read it. That'll make you stay awake at night and think about what is going on, and where it is leading to. We are in big trouble in this country, and McCoy documents it so well. This is excellent reading for those who really want to know what is going on, what went on before, and likely to happen in the future.

23 people found this helpful

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Anonymous Amazon User

This man is brave for putting this in print and not yielding to the intimidation

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2019

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"The Politics of Heroin" combined with "Dark Alliance" really paints a vivid representation of what is really going on in this thing called the Drug War. It's truly outrageous government can be so abusive of the power it yields that it literally declares war on it's on civilians by supplying them with a 'product' they claim to be fight the eradication of. And while people are overdosing, going to prison, being robbed, being lied to; They carry on like things are normal and declare themselves unaccountable of wrongdoing. Despite the existence of evidence that links much of this problem directly to them.

9 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Reviewed in the United States on November 22, 2013

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There is not a more exhaustive study of the international heroin trade written. This book will bring you from the Marseille cartels of the 40's who worked with the OSS against the Nazis and remained partners into the efforts of the CIA in Vietnam. It is comprehensive in the sources of poppy and the above board and undercover machinations to keep the heroin trade alive and well for many different reasons. Fleshing out many key players in the trade and delving into murky corners of geopolitics not widely known, you may find more than you want in this book. I work with some people from Laos and Cambodia and after reading the chapters on Southeast Asia, we were able to hold a very illuminating conversation about the on the ground effects of this policy. It is well known to the people there and should be to the people here in America.

Amazingly well researched and very well written, this is the authoritative tome on the highly questionable connections between the American intelligence community and the global drug cartels.

25 people found this helpful

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Little ol' me

The History of Al-CIAduh

Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2013

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Received on time and in good condition. A welcome edition in my library. This book holds the precursors of Al-CIAduh and the 'Mexican drug lords'. Along with Gary Webb's book, 'Dark Alliances' America OUGHT to have a different perspective of the war on drugs(beating out the competition, literally) AND the war OF terror that is waged on all of the uncooperative nations of the world. The United States, as well as Al-CIAduh have a vested interests in supporting and defending, to the death, the economic model of the global central banks. The evidence piles up as the people continue to be led to the slaughter.

14 people found this helpful

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Brian Saady

The definitive book about the CIA's link to drug trafficking, which was written by the first author to bravely cover this topic

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2016

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"The Politics of Heroin" will permanently alter your opinions about the drug war. There are several books that cover this topic, but none of them can match this one. Most of the McCoy's research comes from firsthand sources, including interviews with intelligence officials and opium warlords. Alfred McCoy published the first book of this genre, "Politic of Heroin in Southeast Asia," in 1973. That was a bold decision to write such a book during the Vietnam War. With that said, I recommend reading this version first, which was published 30 years later. It is updated and the same historical themes continue to repeat. It is absolutely remarkable.

This isn't light reading, but it's definitely worth your time. Unfortunately, it can be somewhat difficult to follow at times because there is a tremendous burden of proof for his assertions. McCoy provides numerous examples of situations in which our intelligence community has embraced drug trafficking warlords as their allies throughout various regions of the world. The CIA's complicity varies from example to example. In some cases, it appears that they consciously overlooked those facts. In other examples, the U.S. government actively encouraged and facilitated their allies' drug trafficking. Most important, McCoy explains why the CIA would make such decisions. Simply put, they prioritize their national security goals over the drug war and the profits from illegal drugs help our military allies wage war.

This book was not written in a sensationalized tone and it provides the appropriate historical context. Furthermore, McCoy demonstrates that the U.S. government is not the only country to be involved this type of illegal activity.

8 people found this helpful

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Angie Kay

Very, very interesting book. Dr. McCoy gets ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2015

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Very, very interesting book. Dr. McCoy gets slightly detailed in the group, tribe and faction descriptions but proves his points in the end. This work (along with others such as Compromised by Terry Reed and John Cummings, Dark Alliance by Gary Web, and The Big White Lie by Michael Levine) makes a strong case for the complicity of agents of the US Government in the drug business. A heavy read but worth it if you want facts to help discover more of the truth.

6 people found this helpful

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Andre E. Williams

Alfred W. McCoy's, "The Politics of Heroin", An Eye Opener.

Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2013

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For anyone wanting to get a clear understanding of why our society and its culture is in the present state that it is, Alfred W. McCoy's, "The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade", lends a historical lens to understanding its evolution. When reading the book, you can only become angry when you realize that since the close of WWII, organized crime has been nurtured and propagated with the help of the military and the CIA. Today, in many communities, there are victims of this process in our country, victims from the crack-cocaine epidemics to young children overdosing on heroin. All you have to do is do the research. Everyday, there are stories with young people getting hold of cheap and low quality heroin and other drugs.
Alfred W. McCoy's book will give the reader an understanding of the historical cause and affect. It reminds us that when we see a ripple on a pond, something or someone was the cause of it. In the case of illicit drugs, its our own government.

15 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Terry Washington

So what did the "Company" know about drug trafficking and when did it know it?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 16, 2019

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Although first published 47 years ago, Alfred W.McCoy's "The Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the global drug traffic", is sadly as topical as the day it was first published back in the summer of 1972. At the time the "Company"(as the CIA grandiosly titled itself) issued a heated(if self serving) denial of McCoy's charges, the passage of years (and declassification of relevant internal files from the Agency itself) has pretty much validated his accusations. During the Cold War, the CIA has accepted as allies everyone from war criminals such as Klaus Barbie, to organized crime figures such as Chicago Outfit boss Sam "Mooney" Giancana(in the campaign against Castro), so why not drug traffickers, esp as to quote former CIA Lucien Conein, both groups have an affinity for "the clandestine arts" of working outside normal society. Although charges that the agency engaged in the crack cocaine epidemic that devastated African American inner cities in the US during the 1980s and 1990s are not true(strictly speaking)- the worst that the CIA can be held responsible for is turning a blind eye to drug trafficking by their Contra allies, I think McCoy(who is white) misses the point of this claim. Black America has historically(and with good reason) been inclined to view white officialdom with the blackest(no pun intended) suspicion- from abusive and inhumane medical experiments by doctors
(such as the infamous "Tuskegee syphilis study" between 1932 and 1972), J.Edgar Hoover's "COINTELPRO" program against black leaders and groups, be they the late Dr King or the Black Panther Party, so that when claims that the Agency organized the crack cocaine epidemic , it aroused all the deepest suspicions of an already traumatized community. The CIA's apologists(such as Zbigniew Brzezinski) may argue that these activities were justifiable in the campaign against Soviet Communism but this"end justifies the means" argument bears a suggestive and chilling similarity to Marxist ideologues and Soviet leaders such as Lenin and Stalin who blithely asserted that "morality is what serves the interests of Communist revolution". McCoy makes the point that the long term consequences of tolerating or condoning the drug traffic by the "assets" of the Agency have arguably produced effects- drug trafficking and addiction(never mind violent jihadism) that are pretty serious in their own right. To my mind, not just its own citizens but the world at large has a RIGHT to EXPECT better things from the United States of America, than we would the late unlamented Union of Soviet Socialist Republics!

2 people found this helpful

Paolo G

The very best in inquiries

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 19, 2014

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First class first person research, an all time classic on heroin trade..and who has organized and got profit from it. The new edition has added a wonderful short but complete history of the subject from the origins. You can't find a better and more complete book on this theme.

4 people found this helpful

A. Barnes

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 25, 2016

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Great book, highly recommend.

One person found this helpful

Jeff

Great book

Reviewed in Canada on December 12, 2019

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Pretty crazy book about the heroin trade. Little information about CIA besides they turned a blind eye to the warlords they financed to combat communism.

Max

Très intéressant pour déconstruire les préjugés concernant la dépendance aux ...

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2018

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Très intéressant pour déconstruire les préjugés concernant la dépendance aux drogues et surtout le discours pro-prohibition qui cache la réalité des profits engrangés par les personnes au pouvoir