NCJ Number
141189
Date Published
1992
Length
38 pages
Annotation
This report describes the natural and chemical procedures linked with heroin production, starting with the cultivation and harvesting of the opium poppy plant of Southeast Asia and continuing with its chemical conversion into morphine and then into heroin.
Abstract
The report also explains the technical relationship between opium cultivation in the Golden Triangle (the mountainous region where Burma, Laos, and Thailand share common borders) and heroin production laboratories of Southeast Asia. The discussion details the origin and history of the opium poppy, field selection and land clearing, land preparation and cultivation methods, harvesting methods, cooking opium, extraction of morphine from opium, the conversion of morphine to heroin base, and the conversion of heroin base to heroin number three and heroin number four. Photographs, illustrations, maps, diagrams, and appended glossary