How Heroin Defeated America in Afghanistan | The War on Drugs

In 2021, the world watched as the US military retreated chaotically from Afghanistan after 20-years of war.
But in Afghanistan, America was defeated as much by the illegal heroin trade as by the Taliban itself. This is how heroin has fundamentally reshaped Afghanistan as a country for decades - and how you can’t understand the West’s failure there without it.
Watch more from this series:
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[@bryan123483]

Providing 90% of the world's heroin is just mind blowing. It's hard to even comprehend how much that is.

[@Rizzbulla]

All heroin on the streets now is just literally fentanyl.

[@that1guy899]

@@Rizzbulla pretty much... That shit's scary man!

[@Rizzbulla]

@@that1guy899 Yeah for sure lol

[@Rblock777]

This data is made up, nobody knows the reality. This video is American propaganda to take eyes off the fact that USA invaded a lot of desert nations including Afghanistan for YEARS! And USA created the Taliban and is funding it from your taxes. Why do you think they left the military equipment there? kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWrNYntpaJWBo9E

[@bryan123483]

@@Rizzbulla True

[@grizcuz]

When an old friend used to go to score, he frequently used to joke: "Just off to do a bit of fundraising for the Taliban". Looks like he was pretty much spot on to me. RIP Billy, you certainly had some inner demons, but you were funny and charming with it and I really miss you.

[@ayu1978]

That’s really some good black humour. I am sure he’s just a good person at heart with a bad habit. Most US dope is overwhelmingly Mexican based though. Afghani heroin goes mainly to users in Europe and South Asia. It’s less “harmful” subjectively than the Mexican fentanyl laced dope that has killed so many in North America.

[@akashsinha2880]

War was the goal, not winning it. Just take money from taxpayers and give it back to the rich.

[@topcatcoast2coast579]

As someone who has lived thier whole life in either Philadelphia and or Souther Arizona. Your friend was definitely definitely not funding the taliban but the Mexican government, thats a different story for a different ray. R.I.P. Mexican Rob a Kensington legend.

[@joshjacome]

I lost my cousin to an od. She was weird and funny. She had two boys with a man that she used with but I have to say that they loved each other and frankly I really liked the guy even tho he was bad for her and their family. She over dosed while he was in jail. When he was released he found out about her death and he committed suicide. I'm not a user and never have been. I had never envied their lifestyle but I miss them both all the time. Good people fall to deadly habits sometimes. It's a heartbreaking process to watch. Loving the best parts of someone while the worst parts of them succeed in killing them is enormously painful. Your a good person :)

[@jakeharris3248]

@@topcatcoast2coast579 I’m pretty sure based on the subtle nuances and the particular words used that the original commenter is from the United Kingdom. Just an FYI.

[@jeanvanderhulst5862]

America fights for GOD: gold, oil or drugs.

[@Master_of_Critique]

America fights for G_D AKA israel

[@hardcoreherbivore4730]

*Guns, Oil, and Drugs. Three markets favoured by the US. However, their share of these markets is in decline, hence the speedy exit. 🤓

[@jhonfamo8412]

Sadly it doesn't need to be that way

[@NoGood999]

@@Master_of_Critique least someone knows 🤷🏻‍♂️👌🏻

[@Master_of_Critique]

@@NoGood999 notice how my comment removed? Keep it up, KZbin. Censorship worked so well for the Soviet Union and Weimar Germany…

[@MrSquilla23]

Vietnam was the leading heroin producer before and during Vietnam war. Our mission didn't pan out there either weird that.

[@andrewbochicchio2232]

My cousin was stationed there a while back in his duty was basically protecting their heroin fields from getting destroyed

[@bryan123483]

Disgusting

[@blinkycuff3616]

Cultivating you mean😂 placing it on your own streets 👌

[@The_Bass_Stunters]

Poppy fields are not the problem it’s the further processing of the opium latex into Heroine that is the problem.

[@Gamerstephan]

the taliban say they fight for their religeon but doesnt the quaran say dont sell drugs? biggest hypocrites, hang the smelly terrorists

[@blinkycuff3616]

@Prof. Weed freedom? There ain't no fucking freedom! Take what you can ,give nothing back , ain't that the order? No peace in society anymore 😭 have to look hard for nice people

[@BforBlitzkrieg]

Congrats to drugs for winning the war again

[@ZyroAniCapped]

lol im Afghan and all the addicts are being forced into a room for 2 weeks or a month away from their family whether they like or not, if they resist they will whooped, Taliban are destroying the poppy fields

[@repletereplete8002]

@@ZyroAniCapped they whip the addicts but if you think they'll continue to destroy the fields just look at their past and they'll soon be back to allowing opium cultivation whilst taxing it and the traffikers again as they need and want that 100's of millions of dollars to get rich. Bunch of hypocrites like most of the worlds leaders.

[@nacanacoo]

@@ZyroAniCapped Thank god the Taliban actually have morals! Just think, we could've completely bypassed the heroin epidemic if we had just never ousted them from power to begin with!

[@BoqPrecision]

@@repletereplete8002 The Taliban follow Sharia. It is forbidden to make a living from haram commodities. The Taliban answer to Sharia law, not your caricatures of them. Have some respect, they whopped your military and even gave them humiliating deadlines to pack up their operations or else. And your military complied, ie "terms of surrender". when has your country ever won a war? Makes me doubt the official WW2 narrative.

[@TN-ju4ro]

Also congratulate terrorism for winning tge war on terror

[@talyahr3302]

It would be great if one day we got a NARCOS type show but instead of cocaine and Columbia, it includes historical videos and storylines of heroin and Afghanistan.

[@jmacias7823]

@Talyah R : I was just talking to a few people about this!! I can’t watch narcos. I lived in Colombia. They have it all wrong!

[@matttorres5510]

Like how snowfall did cocaine and Nicaragua. I'd watch

[@Diego-es9yb]

COLOMBIA

[@paulorocky]

What’s the Pashtun word for “pendejo”?

[@ayu1978]

One US marine officer replied during a patrol with a journalist with regards to the vast fields of poppies and why the ISAF wasn’t taking steps to curb or destroy the crops. Reason he gave was very logical and simple: Our task is to root out and engage the insurgents, not take away the livelihoods of poor farmers whose entire families depend on it. If we do take harsh measures, it is likely that the same farmer or his family members would join the insurgency or not inform us that there is an IED ahead on the next road we are driving into. Those are ground realities that soldiers have no control over with, with members of the western appointed government in Kabul having a hand in the trade themselves!

[@Student0Toucher]

America is still better

[@xtscarfacem8255]

Doesnt make sense when thousands of innocent people were murdered. Im sure they too wished for a better way of living. Dont fool yourself, america profited from it.

[@xtscarfacem8255]

@@Student0Toucher america barely cares of its own people... how?

[@Student0Toucher]

@@xtscarfacem8255 Thats ironic because why do immigrants from all over the world keep coming to this bad country called America!!!! Maybe we rank lower in some things compared to other FIRST WORLD countries in Europe but on the world stage we’re a pretty good country and for most of our history America has been pretty good except for minorities at first but now there getting all the power which I don’t care but it’s true

[@Student0Toucher]

I know this guy will receive more likes because its a trend to hate America but real stats prove him otherwise👍

[@YourMom-cu8yt]

I enlisted, then 10 days later my brother died in my arms from an opiate overdose after coming to live with me straight from rehab. The Army put me in a “grieving period”, and during that time I learned about our soldiers defending the poppy fields that fuel the pharmaceutical industries opiate products that killed my brother, and I dissolved my enlistment. Now my nephews are enlisting because they feel like they have no opportunities, and I tried to warn them, but NeoAmerican propaganda is stronger than any argument I could levy, sadly. If only I had a multi billion dollar budget to create Hollywood movies and tv shows like the CIA does, I could probably change people’s minds. Also, don’t kid yourselves about illegal heroin. The Taliban isn’t row boating heroin to the cartels in South America. The CIA is shipping it to them directly on sanctioned cargo planes and cargo ships to feed their black budget operations. We are the bad guys, stop deluding yourselves.

[@TJV83]

That’s horrible

[@OnPointFirearms]

That's the truth. Started back in Vietnam with military planes bringing back Heroin.

[@williebeamish5879]

Whole thing a cash cow for the CIA.

[@briangrussing9327]

If the public knew the whole truth, the streets would look like WWZ

[@mr.khorsani8740]

I wish u made a video on this and it goes viral

[@jorgechs4711]

Lmao, who knew that the failed work on terror would have links to the failed and made up war on drugs

[@williebeamish5879]

Got that right. 👍

[@5taunch]

So when I was briefed on Afghan, the OP was to destroy the opium. The next time I was briefed the OP had shifted to allow the opium to be grown. This was because local farmers could sell a handful of opium at the equivalent price of a field of grain. This was to win the hearts and minds of the Afghan farmers

[@jojofreelancer1210]

Do you believe that and did it work? I could see how it would work but I also can see how it could've been dually operable as that and something else. Obvious need for it

[@modernskater1996]

@@jojofreelancer1210 I think the truth is in between the lines and they did both

[@ascheuring1]

Much love to everyone struggling in here, its a daily battle and remember day 1 can always be today. Dont give up

[@SebAnders]

I dare say that those C17s shipped thousands of tonnes of heroin over the 20 year occupation

[@OnPointFirearms]

Totally. Same thing happened back during Vietnam.

[@YourMom-cu8yt]

Frankly, there was no other way for that much product to reach our shores.

[@TY-km8hj]

@@YourMom-cu8yt when the USA wills it there's a way

[@SebAnders]

@@TY-km8hj except when it comes to defeating insurgencies them the U.S is like a eunuch at an orgy.

[@solo6069]

The War on drugs” has always been a joke

[@eazypeazy33]

This is all a scy opp .. they all crooks

[@DetroitFettyghost]

100% solo. It's a tool the CIA uses to control big city's and the people in it, now they turned up the import and it's effecting every corner of the world.

[@retrospecative2454]

Yessa all it did was have cops prey on poor neighborhoods. Just another government agenda passing laws that benefit them

[@LowMedow]

Kabul was founded 1776 just like our co.....

[@troy4298]

Except in the philippines

[@xGameLeaderx]

As an afghan i can surely say in 1997 taliban banned all opium farming or selling !

[@mikeferris408]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍

[@ElonHusky]

@@mikeferris408 hence the war breakout

[@MsNooneinparticular]

Fun fact: It's not illegal to grow opium poppies in the U.S. as long as they're for "ornamental" purposes. Just don't get caught scoring them or having any drug paraphernalia in your home or cops can make a case for "drug manufacturing".

[@Dogen70]

Well guess im bout to grow poppies for ornamental purposes!

[@magnushem8734]

Every supermarket sells bread with poppy seeds. Pure poppy seeds are sold as spices and the price is a dollar per 25g. The poppy seeds are harvested with special precautions to reduce the amount of opium.

[@deepphilip6971]

@@Dogen70 🤣🤣

[@justineadebisi8225]

Lol I got kicked out of my sisters house cause she found me collecting opium in her gardens ahaha

[@gregorteply9034]

My aunt makes awesome poppyseeds filled buns 👌

[@billchubbler4584]

Heroin got us in Vietnam also

[@DetroitFettyghost]

Vietnam WAS the highest producer at time of that war HINT HINT Afghanistan became biggest producer in the 80s. Hint hint! Harvard, Princeton and a ton of other institutions in America where built with 100% opium money. Look it up. Bush family. I'm not even joking, it's there look it up. No conspiracy. Our countrys founded on DOPE

[@moisesmontecillo7570]

That guys leg is sturdier than my life

[@mikeschultz6383]

Lmfao that was good thanks.

[@ianfarquharson3772]

Opium production goes down and 10 year's later everyone is dying from fentanyl overdose. At least heroin last long enough in your body to not need a hit every few hours. That's why fentanyl is used for operations!!!

[@akashsinha2880]

They should use heroin for operations, people are taking it anyway.

[@ayu1978]

@@akashsinha2880 diamorphine hydrochloride aka medical heroin IS used in the UK for surgeries and severe post operative pain. Works twice as fast as IV morphine, and has less respiratory depression when dosed correctly.

[@adrianblackberry9327]

@@ayu1978 extremely well said

[@crazypaultheabomination712]

The medical use of heroin in the psychiatric field was glimsed at in a TV show... Good old doctor jackel and Mr Hyde... It's not that Geri n wasn't effective as a medication, it was just that everyone was using it no matter the validity of need.... It still is a useful set of alkaloids.. so much so that current antipsychotics and other meds are made from a denatured process involving the opium lactum... There has been a breakthrough in regards to the understanding of potential and therapudic use of injections of halladol and Ativan to safely trigger the dopamine response and key select factors that are key agonist in the therapudic effect of heroinn, as well as opium... Safer and done correctly in a hospital setting the dose can be personality zed to sedate calm quiet as well as induce a mild body effect..

[@sko1beer]

you all seen the tv show dopesick yet? its good

[@cokabil8314]

First time someone provided a story about Afghanistan long history without blaming everything on religion

[@lisag2627]

Catholic Church recruitment was for CIA operatives (Catholic Intelligence Agency)who defended the fields for war funds to conquer communism all over the world..

[@kylegray3838]

most of their issues currently are to blame for the fake war on terror

[@corngreaterthanwheat]

"How Heroin beat America in America."

[@jasonhelstowski5571]

How heroin beat America in Afghanistan

[@dadcaylor1385]

Why doesn't anyone ever talk about the trade embargo that Afghanistan hasn't been able to grow cotton with thrives throughout the land. The embargo started in the early 1900's. Wake up folks. Image Afghanistan growing a crop that could make them a player on the field legally?

[@BillyT886]

Oh.

[@TY-km8hj]

They want the nation broken and divided

[@nemya9586]

@@TY-km8hj they want & have a lot of them that way

[@808bigisland]

Cotton does not make money, costly, environmentally unsafe. Poppy and weed make money and are hardy crops. Nobody needs more tees. We need the war on people to end.

[@davedavies8002]

The worlds stiched up by TW@''s

[@zackhenry8373]

FUTURE IS HIDDEN IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE. SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO DAILY WHAT THE UNSUCCESSFUL DO ONLY ON OCCASIONALLY.. WHICH IS INVESTING PERSISTENTLY A LITTLE TO GET MORE WHOEVER THAT'S READING THIS , I PRAY THAT ONE DAY YOU WILL REACH YOUR DREAMS.

[@jerryrobinson2977]

Cryptocurrency is a gamble. But everyone should be investing on.

[@vincentbrittany1688]

Everyone knows cryptocurrency is not a gamble majorly for the extremely rich.. It's an invest'ment to compete with the rich and the government. Everyone can do it no restrictions

[@ginalucy5797]

@@vincentbrittany1688 But anyone who is not investlng now is missing a tremendous opportunity.

[@catherinedanielle1082]

Yes. It's better to take risk and make sacrifices than to remain poor or settle for less.

[@Forex_trade3]

@Harold Megan link up with e x p e r t Jeffery Howard

[@magical8013]

It's crazy because I've actually had a lot of friends that were in the Army and they think we're over in Afghanistan for a whole nother reason (the oil and poppy fields). I don't know why they would think that, one of them said that they actually have guarded poppy fields

[@whatislifebuttheenjoymento3405]

They are not there anymore thanks to Taliban

[@504landlord2]

It's facts .America had the largest opioid crisis while the troops were in the Middle East..now the troops are pulled and fentanyl is the problem

[@derekcash3608]

No Army elements guarded poppy fields. They patrolled and secured areas that were of strategic value against insurgents and some of those places also grew poppy.

[@Mr.JayTaylor]

Same same but different. Like, I put my d*ck in random holes in bathroom stalls...there just happens to be a mouth on the other side.

[@matthewlawless5064]

I use too admire vice Journalism I guess you missed the part where us troops were tasked with guarding opium fields 🤔

[@daikucoffee5316]

I don’t think the implications of This Video are that US occupation of Afghanistan was good.

[@user-xu6pd5hs3r]

@@daikucoffee5316 yep, not sure if this guy watched the video

[@LowMedow]

Kabul was founded 1776 just like our co.....

[@user-id9bn1ic9v]

@@LowMedow cock?

[@kings_chronicle592]

Maybe if they didn't give guns cash or felt the need to be in everyone's business they won't have that issue would they?stop being a typical American anyone knows and sees that country was built on deceit and lies.get with it

[@richardlayton7184]

Don't forget the lithium...

[@TheEd1225]

The drugs are a great distraction.. with everything going electrical Lithium will be on par with oil

[@ashantorahmanmirza8403]

😀😀😀👌👌👌

[@Junior-fd8ux]

There was something like 93,000 overdose deaths in the United States during 2020. Vietnam we here in the United States lost something like 59.000. I mean wtf I don’t even have but 2 high school friends that are still alive because of it. I feel like I went to war without even leaving the soil of my town. I’m 10 years clean this past February, ya ya ya i know good for me and thanks..

[@firasajoury7813]

Cute comparing war to degeneracy classic American moment

[@atcaroyo]

Y’all educate me every day thank you

[@myhouseimports]

Another lucid and informative presentation: thank-you!

[@zovalentine7305]

Julian told us about Afghanistan in 2010! FREE JULIAN NOW ✊

[@JK-co1tw]

Yes, ma'am.

[@briangrussing9327]

"Brandon" is about to extradite Julian Assange...

[@sharonneedlesfreedomsnotfr813]

_The war on jrugs has been incredibly successful doin exactly what it was designed to do unfortunately that just did not include stopping the supply_

[@ChiefStephenlouisthe2nd]

Or help the biggest reason there is a supply.... The demand. Helping the people that want help. Doing what we did with Healthcare in the USA. If someone wants Heroin write them a prescription.

[@dimastashyi1793]

Let's say it clear - war for drugs, not on drugs))))

[@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403]

The war on drug was originally created by President Richard Nixon’s domestic policy chief, John Ehrlichman. It had one purpose: put black people in jail. I guess he felt bad about his role and talked about it, saying: “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and Black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or Black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and Blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. **Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did. ** ” Ironically, Reagan used the war on drugs to flood black neighborhoods with crack cocaine to then use the money to fund the Contras against the Sandinistas. So when Nancy Reagan was telling all of us to "just say no", her husband was the drug dealer, getting black people hooked on crack!

[@jenniferbryn]

Dear nameless reporter, please ask them to give us a name bc you are one of their best reporters and deserve credit. very eloquent and clear. thank you for all your narrations. your voice is soothing and vice is one of the current, news outlets worth listening to. #thankyou

[@andyjohnson4008]

His name is Jamie Clifton...it literally says it on the screen at the beginning of all his videos

[@jenniferbryn]

@@andyjohnson4008 oh thank you!

[@hazerain7354]

The whole war for poppy and oil.

[@trav2190]

That's alot of money

[@ryanslings6234]

Not oil, but definitely an unparalleled cache of rare earth minerals.

[@Aiden_Muslim]

Well not oil, but other natural ores and gases that are abundant in the Islamic Emirates as it is called now.

[@spaceisalie5451]

*million, she said million, not billion even though the subtitle said that. A billion people did not die in 40 years of fighting in Afghanistan. Roughly a million or more did.

[@TJayIS]

that is very obvious…. nobody above the age of 14 is going to think 1/7th of the world population died in afghanistan..

[@Redx130000]

@@TJayIS Unfortunately I think you’re overestimating the intelligence of the average American citizen; Especially in the KZbin comment section lol.

[@TY-km8hj]

@@Redx130000 word and that aint even to be a dick, American education is SEVERELY lacking

[@TJayIS]

@@Redx130000 maybe you're right

[@anhiirr]

kinda how its not basic education to really beat over the head of kids in america....that russia fought for and against the axis....and lost the most casualties in wwII....nor the fact that allied forces in europe only saw americans for around a years time....yet mericans like to think we fought nazis for 5-10 years....SMDH. The list goes on and its boarderless bc the providing class is also boarderless and responsible for this "information age" level of willful ignorance

[@DarkPhantomSky]

Thanks, very informative and to the point.

[@nathanmurley6293]

“One often meets his fate on the road he takes to avoid it” -Master Oogway, Kung Fu Panda

[@HateHater2205]

America fixing their health care system would fix this.

[@shred3965]

@Ethan Stubbs in the uk rn, free healthcare is going sound :)

[@HateHater2205]

@TuPut AhMadre The story is people buy shady health care drugs in Mexico and other places because they can’t afford it in America, the drugs are laced with addictive drugs and thus creates these users become helplessly addicted. If the system was fixed people could buy medicinal drugs they trust

[@gbrooks9509]

LOOKS LIKE AMERICA LITERALLY GOT SMACKED! I'll SEE MYSELF OUT.

[@maybeno4099]

🤣WHY !!!

[@blinkycuff3616]

Na come back ! Everyone else does, government including 👍

[@__foam]

Taliban probably watching this video like “am I a joke to you?”

[@qbclay2]

dont do heroin. its awesome and you will probably love it and its all a struggle after that point. .thats my experience at least

[@Gzuptvmedia]

ur not lying bro!! Im experiencing that right now!!

[@qbclay2]

@@Gzuptvmedia good luck my man. even knowing that your hurting gives me anxiety. get some help if you need it. even something like suboxone can at least get you on a safer track if you're using IV. it doesnt solve the problem, but its allowed me to live a "normal" life. anyways im pulling for ya, good luck.

[@hybridflu6-810]

America keeps creating problems they can't fix.

[@ulty1472]

As an American i can confirm

[@lemmykielmister7303]

I love that one

[@ItsJoKeZ]

darn it is almost like you cannot combat a substance with military force. but hey we'll get em next time!

[@Theonekhaled1]

Thx for a great video! I missed the outro with the congratulations to drugs for winning the war on drugs

[@Parnell07]

My mate is in the Army, when they were on patrol they were given stacks of dollars to give to farmers If they damaged any of a farmers crop.

[@rickdrescher9690]

Given the actual value of the US dollar they probably carried those stacks around to wipe their asses with.

[@AarshReddy]

​@@rickdrescher9690???

[@iplaywithshibainu2344]

Congratulations to Drugs for winning the War on Drugs

[@cirodc646]

The war on drugs is bullshit

[@MrSammo1]

What happened is exactly what the Ruling Class wanted!

[@BoqPrecision]

wrong...they wanted american military presence in afghanistan indefinitely. They faced resistance from the ppl and ofcourse the pinnacle of that resistance being the Taliban. You lost to Islamic Jihad activity.

[@goobermcboogerballs1420]

@@BoqPrecision "you lost to Islamic Jihad activity" nah mate the US gov lost to jihad activity, we lost to the US Gov.

[@evanherrera5948]

Exactly but we are surrounded by retards

[@MrSammo1]

@@BoqPrecision The heroin is coming to America and it's purer than ever. The Ruling Class always win!

[@MrSammo1]

@@evanherrera5948 That's the Ruling Class's free school systems.

[@kylemurray8662]

Amazing that weed is legal in numerous states, but still not federally. If that doesn't tell you all you need to know about power, corruption, and racism than Idk what does.

[@kameronsharp8691]

As a person physically dependent on opiates nothing will ever change until the world has this view on all drugs. Methadone maintenance programs hand out extremely potent opioids to thousands of people everyday and those people are able to function society is no worse off because of methadone clinics. Heroin substitution therapy works for a reason.

[@algirdasmackevicius2200]

@@kameronsharp8691 didn't you just mention you're dependant on it though

[@Arrica101]

You can be dependent on something and still be a functioning member of society. Billions of people are addicted to caffeine for example.

[@isailopez4132]

@@Arrica101 the world’s biggest artist’s, architects, politicians and all hard working mexicans in the US, are addicted to cocaine… Because good cocaine opens your mind, imagination, creativity and the media knows, but chooses not to show that part..

[@afterthestorm221]

Isn't it interesting that in the "War on Drugs" the finger of guilt is generally is pointed at Mexico.

[@alexanderwilliams5125]

Pretty much whoever fits the agenda for what the government wants to push at that time..

[@HughCorbyCruick]

Most of the heroin and fentanyl coming into America comes from south of the border, mostly controlled by Mexican cartels. The Afghan crops feed Europe and Asia.

[@neilmarshall5087]

@@HughCorbyCruick Try watching the video above....

[@nacanacoo]

@@neilmarshall5087 No, he has a point. True heroin is becoming a rarer, and rarer commodity past couple years! In it's place Fentynal has begun taking the stage, being created in labs right across the border n such. now because it's being replaced by Fentanyl

[@zekayman]

@@nacanacoo I thought most of the fentanyl was coming from China?

[@jjcoola998]

Yeah my buddy did a tour in Afghanistan and he said there were many times where he was tasked with guarding poppy fields

[@jingbot1071]

Another L in the war on drugs. Pretty sure drugs have definitively won, at this point.

[@TY-km8hj]

They were never losing

[@anhiirr]

its why i support libertarian drug ethics....the only reason drugs matter is bc of the leverage on the black market and crime informants. guns/drugs/human trafficking.....the only active GDP the cia cares for bc its the only liquidity in that "world". That can get them leverage or informants etc/intel theyre essentially a brokerage for those 3 things. Operation fast and furious is a prime example the deep state always shits the bed under a democratic president...just look at biden sending a former intelligence head to do the "negotiations" with the taliban....but coughs loud dont we not negotiate with terrorists. XD its almost as if the torture is a cover for cooperation.

[@needlepark212]

I've been shooting heroin and cocaine up for almost 20 years and love it. ❤ still hold the same job after 10 years, still renting the same apartment for 20. I function lovely on it. BUT I am not in a relationship nor have any children. I chose loneliness for my drug addiction and I'm quite satisfied.

[@turok4714]

You are my role model, I would love to swap places with you. Unfortunately, I can't consume often because I don't earn enough money (although I also have the same job for 10 years) and can rarely find good material because I also have very few connections. But when it happens it's just wonderful, I don't have a relationship or children either because the combination of H and coke gives me everything I'm missing and satisfies me like nothing else.

[@IrishPablo94]

Im somthing similar

[@IrishPablo94]

@@turok4714 we are the same , heroin makes me the happiest

[@douglasr.c.5622]

I have been using heroin for 8 years. I don't understand how you can feel much of anything when you use. I sure don't, although I don't iv.

[@turok4714]

@@douglasr.c.5622 When you shoot it up you always get a "rush" at the beginning and when you mix it with cocaine the euphoria comes back and it enhances the effects of both drugs.

[@SynthoidSounds]

Many thanks for producing and posting this, the best story I've seen yet which clearly explains the intersection of the opium and heroin trade, the so-called war on drugs, and the contorted history in Afghanistan. But like the cocaine cartels in S. America, I just don't see this ending anytime soon. Interesting, though, that fentanyl may be the undoing of the Afghan opium business.

[@alanmittlestead8490]

You are a sucker my friend. The US facilitates this where ever they invade.

[@criss3619]

@@alanmittlestead8490 what can we do to stop this? How can we get the people to realize that there is another way to be economic giants without relying on such brutal tactics.

[@briangrussing9327]

The oxycontin boom in the 90s laid the tracks for a generation of junkies, people that normally would have just smoked pot, but trusted a pill, not knowing it was in many ways worse than heroin. Once the Sacklers/Purdue Pharma got pinched, all those customers were forced to switch to street heroin. Now you can't find real heroin unless you're rich &/or famous, people are dieing on the streets everywhere due to fentanyl (& other potentiators). We were far better off with natural heroin (diacetyl morphine), but the profit margins on fentanyl are over 100x that of real heroin, so "game over man"

[@alanmittlestead8490]

@@criss3619 Sure won't be easy but breaking up the oligarchy and the bought-off-two-party stranglehold is the only hope.

[@bethdoublekickchick8007]

The more I learn, the more I'm beginning to realise that the USA government military complex the REAL ememy. 💜 from America's baby brother, Australia 🦘🤘🇦🇺🤘🦘🤣

[@neelblues8332]

Why not mention that US military was the biggest distribution channel for heroin in the US

[@itachiiuchiha940]

You guys make such good videos

[@CDXLIV444]

It's almost like it's a complex problem that doesn't have a simple solution. I enjoyed hearing the other side of the story. Very enlightening.

[@deepphilip6971]

simple solution...release the pest or create one (cheaper than making a nuke for sure) that destroys poppy plants into afgan fields, taliban money source drys up, they fall...everybody happy

[@CDXLIV444]

@@deepphilip6971 Except for the one legged guy with 12 kids. He wouldn't be happy. Neither would the family depending on him. He believes he's growing medicine...

[@deepphilip6971]

@@CDXLIV444 sure but if this continues he and his coming generations might as well be living in a modern-day North Korea where he will have to sell his children for default on loan and you have to keep in mind global warming and geopolitics will surely lead to water scarcity and more unrest around the world, afgan will be worst affected and that will lead to more fanatic behavior to seep into society ...with this it will be over......in war there is always a hefty price to pay, the idea is to look which option is better over the other in terms of damage and effectiveness

[@Arrica101]

The solution is actually incredibly simple. It's called legalization. If you treat people with addictions like humans instead of animals and provide them the help they need, you cut the legs out from under the cartels. But that would mean the powerful and the elite accepting they were wrong so it will never happen

[@openplz3000]

I've been as busy as a one legged opium farmer

[@FrickFoster]

I'm using this out in the wild

[@jaco6971]

can we get a playlist of the background audio? Some banger tunes

[@creamshah7884]

Need it ASAP @VICE

[@iiiexeiii7233]

@Mike Wiki Yea, if you're handing them out.

[@tasb1r]

>global superpower >loses war to inanimate object

[@Tootruetootrue]

Vice on fire 🔥 like the old days let's GO!!!!

[@wineverything7529]

It is however pushing parallel narrative at once so parallel and opposite that one can't be true unless the other is false The first narrative is Taliban benefit from drug market The second is USA guarding the heroine plantation in Afghanistan So if USA was fighting a war on drugs why were CIA guarding these plantation? There is something fishy don't u see it? And America just can't say it

[@h7opolo]

i like the historical context provided

[@slutty2x798]

YO GANG - NEW MUSIC kzbin.info/aero/PLBCJT-3Di3wvLw_BQsmqs2IYLOw45sPuM

[@abeautifullittlefool1758]

When drug policy is just major international relations conflicts

[@blinkycuff3616]

I see no conflict in drug deals,they are still completed,the people who are abused because of is the fight ?

[@abeautifullittlefool1758]

@@blinkycuff3616 there is nothing inherently connecting conflict to drug deals no. But to have a country be connected to a 20 year international conflict that was in part financially backed by the illegal trade of opium does connect those two issues together. There's a correlation not a causation

[@abeautifullittlefool1758]

@@capturedflame it's in the best interests of most nations to eliminate the illegality of the drug trade so it can be properly regulated and taxed and so criminal organizations lose that stream of revenue. You won't get rid of crime altogether but taxation and regulation could have a huge impact on areas hit so badly with drug trades like Latin America and stimulants and opium in the Middle East. There's no reason the world should still hold onto drug prohibition era laws just because Nixon strong manned the world in the late 60s early 70s. Drug policy will always be part of international relations as long as nation's agree to buy and sell product. It will be less violent and riddled with conflict once we legitimize the trade.

[@aldrichsusanto]

What a superb point of view. I love this.

[@scottcarlass8887]

One of my favorite VICE series - continuing to push it against the moronic bureaucrat propagators of the most senseless war in history - truly a war against humanity itself. We are all victims.

[@nickzardiashvili624]

You forgot puritan. Moronic, bureaucrat, puritan propagators of war. Why would heroin addicts need our help? They were given clear instructions to say no. Now it's on them. "Good people" don't do drugs, only the "bad people" do drugs. You don't help bad people, you fight bad people.

[@briangrussing9327]

25yr iv heroin addict here, I had 2 friends OD in the first ~15yrs (while we were all getting real H--diacetyl morphine). In the last ~10yrs of fentanyl adulterated weak ass H, I've had over 2 dozen friends/acquaintances die... Nice, huh? We were FAR better off with natural heroin.

[@douglasr.c.5622]

Once an addict is accustomed to heroin, it's pretty hard to od. Fentanyl is a different story.

[@xXSataniacXx]

id rather give my hard earned smack money to the myanmar militias like in the old days :(

[@kamronjohnson1040]

US Soldiers: Put your hands up!! Quagmire in Afghanistan: Giggity giggity goo!!!

[@EmilGlockner]

Why is the logo on the close up shot of the TV taped off while it is perfectly readable as JVC in the other shot?

[@broms316]

It was always gonna go that way. I remember 15 years ago talking about it.

[@BirdsAZUT]

I love it when a British person points out the US failure with out sharing the info that the British Government failed too in destroying the poppy's.

[@hanzalaomar9915]

Also found it funny how he called the Afghan government (ie US puppet) a "legitimate government"

[@BLX187]

Why would they destroy something that’s more valuable then gold?

[@nacanacoo]

@@hanzalaomar9915 savage

[@alexcarter8807]

Britain's been in and out of Afghanistan since the 1840s or so.

[@TTOS69]

Where I'm at in NC it's virtually impossible to find heroin, it's 99.99% fentanyl now. And once you move to fent, heroin won't work to cure dope sickness.

[@matttorres5510]

Damn.

[@lauraashley4009]

Yep. I'm in NC too and you're spot on

[@douglasr.c.5622]

Seriously ???

[@ChicoCarvallo]

Lol, that guy trying to lure a sniper with his hat sticks up the whole gun aswell like nobody would see that too🤦🏽‍♂️

[@achmadzulfifahmi6815]

Don't know how to feel about this it's a madness

[@JK-co1tw]

Get these whore bots out of here, Alphabet. Use your money for good.

[@JK-co1tw]

@RASEL hey hey!! I HATE you.

[@hofahome]

The unfortunate reality of humanity is insanity due to vanity.

[@BoqPrecision]

the ppl who make these documentaries look at you as not being a 'full' person (low IQ etc) something to start making you think.

[@JK-co1tw]

@@BoqPrecision that's a pretty weak accusation

[@fatherfintanstack8810]

Let me leave you with a thought: What if Afghanistan was given up on because synthetic opiates like Fentanyl are easier to produce, 100x stronger, 100x lighter, and don't require maintaining an entire country? Leave the "problematic and difficult to manufacture" stuff for the local market.

[@nacanacoo]

Then why are we letting China dominate the trade of it?

[@fatherfintanstack8810]

@@nacanacoo I never said I had all the answers, but I'm sure we are all in collaboration all over the world, hand in glove, behind closed doors, pervasive, throughout administrations.

[@roughhouse5034]

Fentanyl has been around since the 1960s. Why go to Afghanistan in the first place then?

[@jordanskidmore3590]

That’s like saying we can make nicotine synthetically, no more market for cigarettes. Bullshit, doesn’t work like that.

[@oghash4912]

@@roughhouse5034 maybe they're getting better at diluting it

[@Khodorchan]

One of Vice‘s best journalists!!

[@robertpiver6280]

Hooray!humanity is enlightened and ready for growth! I'm so proud for us humans and our great achievments

[@nataliewisdom4790]

I and my family and even my mother's recent passing are all undeniable evidence of heroin winning the war on drugs

[@Bdigital9482]

I’d consider not doing heroin.

[@trippplecup1563]

It’s in my family and a lot others to bro..

[@USlisa50]

I'm sorry. It is here in mine as well.

[@duellingscarguevara]

@@Bdigital9482 let std’s be your “vietnam” (like djt?).

[@saidmaz7876]

Skill issues

[@Tee-vq3mv]

America is like the rich kid in class who could afford everything but didn't have any purpose in life

[@andrewmiller6272]

It's really easy to grow poppy plants. My dad did when he lived in Texas during the sixties.

[@racingsponga]

THE REAL REASON WE WERE THERE GUARDING THE POPPY FIELDS

[@fatherfintanstack8810]

And now we don't need them, because synthetic opiates are WAY easier to manufacture. No need to rule an entire country for it.

[@tiletom9118]

I don't see how heroin is a topic considering fentanyl is ripping through the streets these days?

[@YourMom-cu8yt]

I mean, why not both?

[@fatherfintanstack8810]

....well, there you go. No need for poppies any longer! The US has Fentanyl... why guard an entire country for only it's poppies when Fentanyl can be synthesized and manufactured for much cheaper... not to mention it's 100x stronger. What a shame.

[@mrwhatsup71]

It’s the Chinese

[@dirk480]

Congrats Drugs for winning the war on Drugs

[@commandZee]

Remember when the British Empire was the biggest dealer of heroin?

[@thestink1592]

Only good series left on vice

[@Ae-ne5iy]

My favorite Vice series. I’m living in America and if everyone watched these and listened we’d be saved.

[@Azzazpimp]

there’s a 80% chance you’re younger than 20 and a 100% chance you’re younger than 30 o enlightened one

[@nascarspankin2128]

@@Azzazpimp haha so true

[@u.s.militia7682]

My unit went to Afghanistan to teach the locals how to get bigger yields out of their food crops. I’m pretty sure they’ll be able to sustain their people from the “corn & wheat” they grow. 🇺🇸

[@chuckallstar1281]

The farmers of poppy are clueless to how much they are really worth

[@Hotlooksamerica]

The war on drugs may have seemed to make Afghanistan unwinnable. Leaving England and the rest of the world out of it, if America ended its war on drugs, Afghanistan wouldn’t have suddenly become winnable.

[@jimi159]

Vice recipe: find a social situation and find a way to make it about drugs

[@tripical]

?

[@kings_chronicle592]

Politics,CIA, USA just another day

[@BazzBrother]

it kind of puts into perspective how Mexico struggles so hard with the cartels: drugs basically fuel an indefinite, empire destroying insurgency.

[@BLX187]

We the public are never told the truth about anything.

[@minigrande1939]

As I keep saying (I work in a job that has ALOT of interest) The USA a keen interest. In keeping the dollar. Strong. Now the narco-dollar is as important as the global economical dollar, heroin production has risen massive. Since 9/11 they have secured the market but not repeated the mistake of the 80s with cocaine. From South America. ( flooding there own streets causing a pandemic, this is fact) this time most the route are to the middle east Russia and Europe. The USA is trying it's hardest to stay the number one super power. Heroin is cheaper and stronger than ever. Pakistan. Is like Columbia it's not the largest producer but the market Centre. Thought most of Europe. Go's via Iran and Turkey. Russia literally borders Pakistan and Russia. Drugs internationally on a large scale are sold in dollars

[@atomicstyle7344]

There is clandestine lab made fentanyl on the streets. Heroin is rare now. It’s intentional.

[@minigrande1939]

@@atomicstyle7344 more so in America not so in Europe.

[@josephvance8900]

Heroin is far from rare. Guess you havent been to St.louis?

[@alexcarter8807]

It's amazing, I listen to NPR all day and since the pullout everyone's taking such pains to pronounce "Taliban" properly and names, places, etc. Apparently, since the US always sides with the most evil and despotic, the US has decided that the warlords, evil as they were, were not as evil as the Taliban so now they're our Talibuddies.

[@danjamesking]

Madness!!!

[@ericachacon8337]

My ex father-in-law was a U.S. Army Green Beret, & his reserve unit was deployed to Afghanistan in ~2002-2003. He lost all belief in the U.S. government on that tour- his unit spent their entire deployment, guarding poppy fields. He knew then, that whatever BS stories he had been told about the U.S. military's "heroic missions" to the Middle East, were really complete nonsense.

[@Master_of_Critique]

The US guarded and maintained the opium trade, which the Taliban was AGAINST.

[@tontolinification]

We’d like to congratulate heroin for winning the war in Afghanistan 🇦🇫

[@slutty2x798]

YO GANG - NEW MUSIC kzbin.info/aero/PLBCJT-3Di3wvLw_BQsmqs2IYLOw45sPuM

[@stormstriker2000]

That flag is no longer meaningful

[@shashlek5751]

@@stormstriker2000 Taliban said they'll retain flag

[@stormstriker2000]

@@shashlek5751 😂😂😂😂😂😂arw u stupid or something, their new flag is a white flag with black writing which says la ilha laliha something, which means mohommed is messager or something, basic Islamist flag that ISIS has. See Wikipedia, and dude would u really trust islamIST?

[@MrAdrafiq]

The consumers who generate demands are blaming the suppliers. The audacity here!

[@margaretpeabody243]

And are they telling us how much money America made off the Afghanistan heroin trade during our occupation.