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Primary Producers of Heroin

The primary producers of heroin are located in a few regions around the world - Mexico, South America, South East and South West Asia, with the main countries involved in the highest levels of production being Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos (these four referred to as the 'Golden Triangle'), some areas of the People's Republic of China and Colombia, as well as major opium cultivation sites throughout Afghanistan. Pakistan was, until recently (around 2004) considered to be one of the highest producers of opium in the world, though government crackdowns have seen the percentage of opium poppy fields in the country decrease by more than half.

The vast majority of heroin that reaches the USA and Europe comes from these main producers, with the US seeing most of the narcotic on the east coast coming from Colombia, and most of it on the west coast travelling up from Mexico. European drug markets see the majority of their heroin transported through drug routes from South East Asia and Afghanistan.

The Golden Triangle region in South East Asia has been notorious for heroin production and trafficking since the 1950s, and to this day travellers to the region are warned about taking on unidentified packages, for fear that they may be unwittingly transporting opium or heroin through the region (thus possibly facing the death penalty). Opium is transported in these countries to disputed border regions where the authorities have little to no presence - for example the Burmese / Thai border - here they are handed over to manufacturing facilities hidden in these remote locations, where the heroin is produced en masse.

Once the heroin has been produced, it is then a case of trafficking it to the regions where it is intended to be sold. This is carried out in a number of ways - if organised crime is involved, the heroin may be transported in large quantities. If, however, smaller amounts are being transported, an individual is commissioned to do the job - either knowingly or not. While there are stringent drug checks in the region and on entering the destination, a great deal of heroin still gets to the streets, fuelling the addictions of users around the world.