The Heroin Wars

Released: 1996-07-06

Runtime: 51 minutes

Episode Overview

Lo Hsing-Han, Khun Sa and the beginning of the war on drugs. Trafficking initially funded rebellion against the anti-democratic Burmese Army dictatorship. As guerilla armies fought to control the huge mule convoys transporting opium to the outside world, the U.S. intervened to attack the convoys, then arrested the first "King of Opium" after inviting him to negotiate.

Series Overview

History of the narcotics trade in Burma and the War on Drugs. In 1964, director Adrian Cowell and cameraman Chris Menges went to mountainous eastern Burma to film the Shan revolutionary forces fighting a bloody civil war against the military dictatorship. The impoverished Shans had only one way to finance the war: opium. Cowell has returned several times over the last 30 years to record the ongoing civil war and the burgeoning opium trade. The first and last episodes are produced in association with WGBH/FRONTLINE.