Claim: Heroin comes in the United States "from the southern border.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
text: most frequently brought to the United States by couriers, typically Thai and U.S. nationals, travelling on commercial airlines. California and Hawaii are the primary U.S. entry points for Golden Triangle heroin, but small percentages of the drug are trafficked into New York City and Washington, D.C. While Southeast Asian groups have had success in trafficking heroin to the United States, they initially had difficulty arranging street level distribution. However, with the incarceration of Asian traffickers in American prisons during the 1970s, contacts between Asian and American prisoners developed. These contacts have allowed Southeast Asian traffickers access to gangs and organizations

title: Heroin
text: country and in 2014, the DEA claimed most of the heroin in the US came from Colombia. , the Sinaloa Cartel is the most active drug cartel involved in smuggling illicit drugs such as heroin into the United States and trafficking them throughout the United States. According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, 90% of the heroin seized in Canada (where the origin was known) came from Afghanistan. Pakistan is the destination and transit point for 40 percent of the opiates produced in Afghanistan, other destinations of Afghan opiates are Russia, Europe and Iran. Conviction for trafficking heroin carries the

title: Drug corridor
text: cocaine imported into the U.S. flows from Latin America across the U.S.–Mexican border, while many imported synthetic drugs and former designer drugs flow south from Canada. Inhabitants of the lower Midwest and South, including Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Carolinas, generally dub their locales to be part of the main trans-American drug corridor, as well as those of the Southwestern U.S. states such as Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. They claim that The major flow of drugs brought in from the Atlantic coast westward flows through their states, and that they are in the main drug corridor. Drug corridor

title: Illegal drug trade
text: the majority of US demand. Allegedly, during the Vietnam War, drug lords such as Ike Atkinson used to smuggle hundreds of kilograms of heroin to the US in coffins of dead American soldiers (see Cadaver Connection). Since that time it has become more difficult for drugs to be imported into the US than it had been in previous decades, but that does not stop the heroin smugglers from getting their product across US borders. Purity levels vary greatly by region with Northeastern cities having the most pure heroin in the United States. On 17 October 2018 police in Genoa Italy,

title: Heroin
text: mostly grown in Afghanistan (), and in Southeast Asia, especially in the region known as the Golden Triangle straddling Burma (), Thailand, Vietnam, Laos () and Yunnan province in China. There is also cultivation of opium poppies in Pakistan (), Mexico () and in Colombia (). According to the DEA, the majority of the heroin consumed in the United States comes from Mexico (50%) and Colombia (43-45%) via Mexican criminal cartels such as Sinaloa Cartel. However, these statistics may be significantly unreliable, the DEA's 50/50 split between Colombia and Mexico is contradicted by the amount of hectares cultivated in each

title: Illegal drug trade in China
text: entering into China, Southwest Asian heroin enters northwestern China from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. Chinese authorities state that Southwest Asian heroin (mainly originating from Afghanistan) represents as much as 20 percent of the heroin that enters the northwest Xinjiang. This trend is increasing, and is attributed to the continuing development of the infrastructure and economy in the western parts of China. Due to the availability of the precursor chemicals, traffickers produce large amounts of crystal methamphetamine. Although much of the crystal methamphetamine is consumed locally, some is available for shipment to other markets throughout Southeast Asia. Several ports in southern

title: French Connection
text: his diplomatic status to bring in about 440 pounds (200 kg). The Federal Bureau of Narcotics's 1960 annual report estimated that from 2,600 to 5,000 pounds (1,200 to 2,300 kg) of heroin were coming into the United States annually from France. The French traffickers continued to exploit the demand for their illegal product, and by 1969, they were supplying the United States with 80 to 90 percent of its heroin. Because of this increasing volume, heroin became readily available throughout the United States. In an effort to limit the source, US officials went to Turkey to negotiate the phasing out

title: Heroin
text: and Hmong tribesmen in Laos. This helped the development of the Golden Triangle opium production region, which supplied about one-third of heroin consumed in US after the 1973 American withdrawal from Vietnam. In 1999, Burma, the heartland of the Golden Triangle, was the second largest producer of heroin, after Afghanistan. The Soviet-Afghan war led to increased production in the Pakistani-Afghan border regions, as U.S.-backed mujaheddin militants raised money for arms from selling opium, contributing heavily to the modern Golden Crescent creation. By 1980, 60 percent of heroin sold in the U.S. originated in Afghanistan. It increased international production of heroin

title: Opioid epidemic
text: medications. According to the CDC, tighter prescription policies by doctors did not necessarily lead to this increased heroin use. The main suppliers of heroin to the U.S. have been Mexican transnational criminal organizations. From 2005–2009, Mexican heroin production increased by over 600%, from an estimated 8 metric tons in 2005 to 50 metric tons in 2009. Between 2010 and 2014, the amount seized at the border more than doubled. According to the DEA, smugglers and distributors "profit primarily by putting drugs on the street and have become crucial to the Mexican cartels." Illicit fentanyl is commonly made in Mexico and

title: Illegal drug trade in China
text: the southeastern coastal areas, and then on to international markets. Heroin is transported by various overland methods to ports in China's southeastern provinces of Guangdong and Fujian. Heroin is transported to Guangdong and to the cities of Xiamen and Fuzhou in Fujian for shipment to international drug markets. Traffickers take advantage of expanding port facilities in northeast cities, such as Qingdao, Shanghai, and Tianjin, to ship heroin via maritime routes. Increased Chinese interdiction efforts along the Burma–China border have forced some traffickers to send heroin from Burma to China's southeastern provinces by fishing trawlers. In addition to Southeast Asian heroin

title: Cocaine
text: the United States have been in Arizona, southern California, southern Florida, and Texas. Typically, land vehicles are driven across the U.S.–Mexico border. Sixty-five percent of cocaine enters the United States through Mexico, and the vast majority of the rest enters through Florida. , the Sinaloa Cartel is the most active drug cartel involved in smuggling illicit drugs like cocaine into the United States and trafficking them throughout the United States. Cocaine traffickers from Colombia and Mexico have established a labyrinth of smuggling routes throughout the Caribbean, the Bahama Island chain, and South Florida. They often hire traffickers from Mexico or

title: Illegal drug trade
text: demand. Despite the constant effort by politicians to win the war on drugs, the US is still the world's largest importer of illegal drugs. Throughout the 20th century, narcotics other than cocaine also crossed the Mexican border, meeting the US demand for alcohol during the 1920s Prohibition, opiates in the 1940s, marijuana in the 1960s, and heroin in the 1970s. Most of the U.S. imports of drugs come from Mexican drug cartels. In the United States, around 195 cities have been infiltrated by drug trafficking that originated in Mexico. An estimated $10bn of the Mexican drug cartel's profits come from

title: History of United States drug prohibition
text: marijuana use led to the use of heroin, creating the gateway drug theory. 1965, in Laos, the CIA's airline, Air America, is suspected of flying Hmong (Meo) opium out of the hills to Long Tieng and Vientiane to obtain hard currency for their otherwise unfunded Hmong war against the Viet Cong in 1971. During the Laotian Civil War, Long Tieng served as a town and airbase operated by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. The Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia) became a mass producer of high-grade no. 4 heroin for the American market. The first ever head shop, Ron

title: Drug trafficking organizations
text: of un-prescribed drugs such as opium, cocaine, morphine, and heroin now in effect, the black market grew to continue supply to addicted or prospective users. Rising domestic enforcement of illegal growing and production operations, coupled with increasing legislation against illegal drugs, forced suppliers outside the country. Drug trafficking organizations from nations with lesser, or no drug laws emerged with the opportunity to make large profits from illegal trafficking into the United States. These organized crime syndicates would use any means necessary to exploit the weak border protection of the US. The drugs were shipped, flown, and trucked into the country

title: French Connection
text: from bringing the Old Port of Marseille under their control. Historically, the raw material for most of the heroin consumed in the United States came from Indochina, then Turkey. Turkish farmers were licensed to grow opium poppies for sale to legal drug companies, but many sold their excess to the underworld market, where it was manufactured into heroin and transported to the United States. The morphine paste was refined in Corsican laboratories in Marseille, one of the busiest ports in the western Mediterranean Sea. The Marseille heroin was reputed for its quality. Marseille served as a perfect shipping point for

title: Illegal drug trade in China
text: only continues to be a major transit route for Southeast Asian heroin bound for international drug markets, but also for Southwest Asian heroin entering northwestern China from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. A majority of the Southeast Asian heroin that enters China from Burma transits southern China to various international markets by maritime transport. Drug traffickers take advantage of expanding port facilities in coastal cities, such as Qingdao, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangdong, to ship heroin along maritime routes. Southwest Asian heroin (mainly from Afghanistan) represents as much as 22 percent of the heroin entering northwest China. Chinese authorities believe that these

title: Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia)
text: base. Most of the finished products are shipped across the border into various towns in North Thailand and down to Bangkok for further distribution to international markets. In the past major Thai Chinese and Burmese Chinese traffickers in Bangkok have controlled much of the foreign sales and movement of Southeast Asian heroin from Thailand, but a combination of law enforcement pressure, publicity and a regional drought has significantly reduced their role. As a consequence, many less-predominant traffickers in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand now control smaller quantities of the heroin going to international markets. Heroin from Southeast Asia is

title: Crime in Mexico
text: source of heroin for the U.S. market. The majority of methamphetamine sold in the United States is made in Mexico, and Mexican-run methamphetamine labs that operate north of the border account for much of the remainder. Mexican drug cartels play a major role in the flow of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana transiting between Latin America and the United States. These drug cartels often use Mexican-American and other Latino gangs to distribute their narcotics in United States. Mexican drug cartels also have ties to Colombian drug traffickers, and other international organized crime. A sharp spike in drug-related violence has some analysts

title: HIV/AIDS in Mexico
text: and 30% of the heroin in the United States was made in Mexico and smuggled in through the border. Cross-border activity, including immigration from Central America and the influx of those returning from migrant work in the United States, has contributed to the spread of the epidemic, particularly in rural parts of the country. Mobile populations are at higher risk of HIV infection because of poverty, violence, lack of access to health services, increased risk-taking behavior, rape, loneliness, and the availability of sex workers.[2] Migrant work between the United States and Mexico has been common among Mexican workers searching for

title: Opium
text: into heroin by a simple chemical reaction with acetic anhydride, followed by purification. Especially in Mexican production, opium may be converted directly to "black tar heroin" in a simplified procedure. This form predominates in the U.S. west of the Mississippi. Relative to other preparations of heroin, it has been associated with a dramatically decreased rate of HIV transmission among intravenous drug users (4 percent in Los Angeles vs. 40 percent in New York) due to technical requirements of injection, although it is also associated with greater risk of venous sclerosis and necrotizing fasciitis. Opium production has fallen since 1906, when