How did the Golden Triangle develop into a worldwide "drug den"? And what is its history?

When people think of the Golden Triangle, the first word that comes to mind is notorious. Yes, the Golden Triangle, as a worldwide drug den, produces a staggering amount of drugs from here every year. Through constant transshipment and trafficking, drugs from the Golden Triangle are marketed all over the world, affecting tens of thousands of families, thus leaving a very ugly impression on people. So when did this land become associated with drugs? How did it develop step by step into a worldwide drug den? And what kind of history is involved?

First of all, we have to know that the so-called Golden Triangle refers to Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, the three countries in the border area of the triangular intersection of the region, because of its geographic location of the special nature of the forces here are disjointed, the legal system is extremely backward. The Golden Triangle is about 200,000 square kilometers, where the soil is fertile and the water and fertilizer conditions are very good, which is particularly suitable for crop cultivation. 1825, a British expedition team came to this land from afar, and after the expedition team's investigation, they thought that this area was particularly suitable for opium cultivation, so the East India Company provided a large number of poppy seeds, and they forced the local ethnic minorities to cultivate opium by force or in other ways. Forced the local ethnic minorities to plant opium, both in terms of scale and quantity of opium planted by the East India Company in this area can be said to be second to none in the world. Every year, the opium harvested by the East India Company was processed and sold overseas, and a large amount of the production was transported to China through British warships to poison Chinese soldiers, peasants, farmers and businessmen. This was the beginning of the Golden Triangle's transformation into the world's drug den.

Opium was a scourge not only in China, but also in all of Southeast Asia. Because of the British army's rampage, Thailand was forced to reduce the opium tariffs, a time when the Golden Triangle opium flowed into the Thai market, in order to be able to stop the outflow of silver, so Thailand announced the liberalization of opium cultivation in the country so as to achieve the purpose of self-production and self-marketing.

Because of the complexity of the world environment at that time, the Golden Triangle opium production is still relatively limited in the region, but after 1949, the Golden Triangle drug market has been broadened, cultivation is also more and more large-scale. 1949 entrenched in the southwestern region of the Kuomintang army by the People's Liberation Army to beat the retreat, a part of the remnants of the army through the daunting primitive forests to reach the Golden Triangle this part of the country. The Golden Triangle. It was only after a bloody battle with the local natives that they managed to settle down. The remnants of the army were numerous and could not get supplies from the government, so they were forced to engage in the most profitable opium business in order to buy food and weapons to meet their own needs. As the remnants of the Kuomintang's army implemented the principle of using drugs to support and protect the army, opium cultivation and smuggling in the Golden Triangle region increased dramatically. In the Golden Triangle, the remnants of the army institutionalized the drug trade and began mass production of processed drugs. The army imposed an opium tax on local opium farmers, who were required to pay 20 to 30 percent of their opium production to the army (this was one of the reasons why the local people later expelled the army). Not only did the remnants of the army deal in drugs, but they also set up schools to train military personnel. In the school of the Remnant Army there are two unknown young men who later become world-class drug lords? Luo Xinghan and Khun Sha. Luo Xinghan is a Kokang people, it is said that his ancestor is the Yongli emperor under the vice general, this person may be inherited from the ancestor of the civil and military, hard in the chaos of the Golden Triangle region organized a team of their own, through the protection of drugs as well as the opening of factories to produce heroin to make a fortune.

The Golden Triangle's drug trade was further expanded by Luo Xinghan, who was arrested in 1973 and held as a senior political prisoner until he was pardoned for his contribution to the dismantling of Burma***.

Lo Sing Han is not as well known as Khun Sa, but the model he pioneered was imitated by the latter. And Khun Sa is not only a veritable drug lord, its name in the international arena that is also quite loud. Khun Sa, also known as Zhang Qifu (or Zhang Qifu), is the son of a Toisan and inherited the position of Toisan at an early age. Khun Sa's teenage years are spent in the military school of the remnants of the army, after graduation and become a part of the remnants of the army engaged in drug trafficking activities. 1960 with the remnants of the army gradually withdrew to Taiwan, Khun Sa returned to his hometown to start the armed forces. 1967 Khun Sa and Luo Xinghan battle, the victorious Khun Sa control of the Golden Triangle seventy percent of the production of drugs and transshipment business, so he called himself the opium kingpin. He called himself the King of Opium. Kun Sha in the Golden Triangle mountainous areas to establish a very large number of drug processing plants, he recruited a large number of technicians in the deep forests to make heroin, from which he made a huge profit.

The Golden Triangle in Khun Sa's development has reached its peak, the early 80s, the Golden Triangle drug production in the 700 tons or so, to 1988 soared to 1,200 tons in 1989, the drug production doubled in 1991 after the breakthrough of 3,000 tons. Due to the high quality of its products, the Golden Triangle has become synonymous with high-quality drugs. Drug lords from all over the world came from far and wide to join Khun Sa's drug-trafficking arm, and the number of drug dealers in the Golden Triangle surged, thus forming a notorious drug den. And this drug den is not only smuggling drugs, human trafficking, erotic gambling, all the unseemly transactions will be carried out here. Don't look at this place is mostly some broken down small bamboo buildings, but can be in this place to consume most of the rich people, many of them are Chinese. The boom will decline, with the Khun Sa group to the government forces surrendered after the Golden Triangle drug network also collapsed, many drug factories were destroyed by the government forces, those who planted opium for a living people have changed to plant tea as well as the development of local tourism for a living. However, although the government forces have been working hard to eliminate the local drug dealers, but the Golden Triangle drug is still a big problem for the leaders of the three countries.