"The CIA's policy of tolerance towards its Laotian allies did not change even when they began producing heroin to supply U.S. combat forces fighting in South Vietnam. In 1968-1969, CIA assets opened a cluster of heroin laboratories in the Golden Triangle region where Burma, Thailand and Laos converge. When Hmong officers loaded opium on the CIA's Air America and the Lao army's commander-in-chief opened a heroin lab to supply U.S. troops in South Vietnam, the Agency was silent. In a secret internal report compiled in 1972, the CIA Inspector General said the following to explain their inaction: "The past involvement of many of these officers in drugs is well-known. But their goodwill considerably facilitates the military activities of Agency-supported irregulars."
All of this heroin was smuggled into South Vietnam. Where? By 1971, according to a White House survey, 34%, or more than one-third, of U.S. troops were addicted to heroin. Instead of trying to restrain drug trafficking by its Laotian assets, the Agency participated in, engaged in, concealment and cover-up. When I went to Laos to investigate in 1971, the Lao army commander very graciously opened his opium account books to me, but the U.S. Mission stonewalled. In a Hmong village where we were investigating opium shipments on Air America, CIA mercenaries ambushed my research team. A CIA operative threatened to murder my Lao interpreter unless I quit my investigations. When my book The Politics of Heroin was in press, the CIA's Deputy Director for Plans pressured my publisher to suppress it. The CIA's General Counsel demanded deletions of all references to Agency complicity." From
CIA COVERT ACTIONS & DRUG TRAFFICKING
