ISIS Makes Billions From Record-High Opium Production in Afghanistan, Thanks Bush!

In the war on drugs (and the war on terror, and the war on catchy euphemisms…), America has been rather ineffective. Purposefully ineffective, even. This was observed when America invaded Afghanistan, causing opium cultivation to rise exponentially. Opium production that had been nearly eradicated by the Taliban.

In fact, last year opium/heroin production reached an all-time high. Afghan poppy fields, guarded by the US military at times, are the source of most of the world’s opiates, with much of it finding its way to the US’s West Coast. Heroin is now a massive problem in Russia (here’s why America could not stop the heroin….. Black market profit ripped from the syringe-scarred hands of one of its rivals) which is near Afghanistan. Drug-addiction has become problematic, with former heroin addicts newly bankrupted by the opiate turning to cheaper but more harmful products like Krokadil.

Now even ISIS is getting in on the trade, yet another piece of evidence pointing toward ISIS inadvertently benefiting and even being funded by the US. According to FSKN head Viktor Ivanov, ISIS traffics Afghan heroin into Russia through Iraq:

The area of poppy plantations is growing. This year, I think, we’ll hear news about a record-high poppy harvest, therefore a high yield of opium and heroin. So this issue should be raised not only in Moscow, but also in the UN in general, because this is a threat not only to our country, but also European security. Over the past five years the Balkan route has been split – heroin traffic now also goes through Iraqi territory.

He continued:

According to our estimates, IS makes up to $1 billion annually on Afghan heroin trafficked through its territory.

Selling Afghan heroin in Europe could earn ISIS around 50 billion dollars a year, with half of Europe’s heroin already coming from ISIS.

Original source: http://theantimedia.org/as-afghan-opium-production-hits-all-time-high-isis-makes-billions/