The first book to prove CIA and U. S. government complicity in global drug trafficking, The Politics of Heroin includes meticulous documentation of dishonesty and dirty dealings at the highest levels from the Cold War until today. Maintaining a global perspective, this groundbreaking study details the mechanics of drug trafficking in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and South and Central America. New chapters detail U. S. involvement in the narcotics trade in Afghanistan and Pakistan before and after the fall of the Taliban, and how U. S. drug policy in Central America and Colombia has increased the global supply of illicit drugs.