- Golden Crescent
The Golden Crescent is the name given to
Asia 's principal area of illicitopium production, located at the crossroads of Central, South, andWestern Asia . This space overlaps three nations,Afghanistan ,Iran , andPakistan , whose mountainous peripheries define the crescent.The
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)heroin production estimates for the past 10 years show significant changes in the primary source areas. Heroin production inSoutheast Asia declined dramatically, while heroin production inSouthwest Asia expanded.cite web | title = Interpol: Drugs Sub-Directorate: Heroin | url = http://www.interpol.com/Public/Drugs/heroin/default.asp | year = 2007 | accessdate = 2007-07-05 | publisher =Interpol ] In 1991, Afghanistan became the world's primary opium producer, with a yield of 1,782metric ton s (U.S. State Department estimates), surpassingMyanmar , formerly the world leader in opium production. The decrease in heroin production from Myanmar is the result of several years of unfavorable growing conditions and new government policies of forced eradication. Afghan heroin production increased during the same time frame, with a notable decrease in 2001 allegedly as a result of theTaliban 'sfatwa against heroin production. Afghanistan now produces over 90% of the world's opium.History
The Golden Crescent has a much longer history of opium production than does
Southeast Asia 's Golden Triangle, even though the Golden Crescent emerged as a modern-day opium-producing entity only in the 1970s, after the Golden Triangle did so in the 1950s.Markets
Although the Golden Triangle heroin dominates the Asian illegal drug markets, the Golden Crescent is increasingly becoming a source of illicit drugs trafficked into western China, particularly the nearby
Xinjiang Province.See also
*
Opium production in Afghanistan References
External links
* [http://www.geopium.org Geopium: Geopolitics of Illicit Drugs in Asia]
* [http://www.unodc.org/pdf/Afgh_drugindustry_Nov06.pdf UN Report: Afghanistan’s Drug Industry] (PDF, 223 pages)
* [http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:21133060~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html Afghanistan: Drug Industry and Counter-Narcotics Policy] , World Bank
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