Narcotopia

In Search of the Asian Drug Cartel that Outwitted the CIA

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Pub Date Feb 01 2024 | Archive Date Jun 27 2024

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Description

The jagged mountains dividing China and Burma belong to the Wa, an indigenous group who have outwitted the CIA to create the world's mightiest narco-state, controlling more territory than Israel and with more troops than Sweden. Are they crime lords? Or visionaries?

Wa State has become a real nation with its own highways, anthems, schools and flags. Its leaders promise freedom, using profits from trafficking heroin and meth to attain what China's other frontier peoples, Tibetans and Uyghurs, can only dream of: a state of their own. Patrick Winn embarks on a risky journey of discovery, chasing clues about the forbidden republic from Thailand to Burma to the secretive Wa State itself.

The jagged mountains dividing China and Burma belong to the Wa, an indigenous group who have outwitted the CIA to create the world's mightiest narco-state, controlling more territory than Israel and...


A Note From the Publisher

Patrick Winn is an investigative journalist who covers rebellion and black markets in Southeast Asia. He has received a National Press Club award and is also a three-time winner of Amnesty International's Human Rights Press Awards. He is currently Asia correspondent for The World, broadcast on NPR member stations, and is the author of Hello, Shadowlands.

Patrick Winn is an investigative journalist who covers rebellion and black markets in Southeast Asia. He has received a National Press Club award and is also a three-time winner of Amnesty...


Advance Praise

'Those who fail to read this forsake their chance to know the truth' ― Roberto Saviano

'An outstanding book packed with history, humour, and adventure. America's struggle to thwart them Winn is the perfect guide to these highland outlaws and their incredible, defiant narcostate. This is the best reportage to come out of Southeast Asia in years.' ― Graeme Wood, author of The Way of Strangers

'A riveting portrait of a little-known and often vilified people; a harrowing tale of Asia's epic, multibillion-dollar drugs trade.' ― Thant Myint-U, author The Hidden History of Burma

'Winn has made a riveting read out of the largely overlooked- but critically important- Wa State .... The history behind it, the masterminds pulling the strings, and the many CIA operations against them. It's a fascinating and incredibly well-researched dive into Asia's underworld and some of the greatest narcotics traffickers in the region. And above all, it's beautifully crafted storytelling.' ― Isobel Young


Unputdownable .... An authentic page-turner revealing why the global drug problem remains unsolved. ― Khuensai Jaiyen, former secretary to drug lord Khun Sa


Part gangster saga, part espionage thriller, and part liberation epic, Winn's narrative alternates between rollicking adventure and harrowing violence conveyed in vivid, muscular prose. ― Publishers Weekly

'Those who fail to read this forsake their chance to know the truth' ― Roberto Saviano

'An outstanding book packed with history, humour, and adventure. America's struggle to thwart them Winn is the...


Available Editions

EDITION Hardcover
ISBN 9781785789731
PRICE £20.00 (GBP)
PAGES 384

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Featured Reviews

Narcotopia is an excellent journalistic account of the Wa, an indigenous group inhabiting the rugged mountains between China and Burma, who have carved out their own republic on the back of narcotics.

While central, south and west Asia has the Golden Crescent, a slice of land which covers Afghanistan and Pakistan, south east Asia has the Golden Triangle, which covers northeastern Myanmar, northwestern Thailand and northern Laos. Both regions have produced huge amounts of the worlds opium (and hence heroin) though the Golden Crescent is the site of much of the word’s supply now. The Golden Triangle meanwhile has moved much more into the production of methamphetamine in illicit labs.

Winn takes his reader on a methodical journey, tracing the formation of arguably the world's mightiest narco-state, which the Wa has carved out for itself. He delves into the intricate web of personalities who have vied for power and control throughout this history, including CIA officers, DEA agents, and the Wa themselves. But he’s to be congratulated for telling the story of the major Wa figures in their own right, and not just through the lens of the Americans.

The Wa, through trafficking heroin and meth, have established a fully functioning nation complete with its own infrastructure and institutions. Winn's meticulous research is evident as he uncovers the existence of highways, anthems, schools, and flags within the boundaries of this narco-state.
That said, this is no hagiography. Winn highlights the dual nature of the Wa as both crime lords and visionaries, and he doesn’t shy away from the former. He doesn’t gloss over the drug trafficking that the Wa have engaged in, or the fact that their product has undoubtedly sown much addiction and misery throughout the world.

But equally, he shows that unlike other indigenous peoples - the Uyghur in China, the Rohingya in Myanmar, - or other oppressed peoples, such as the Tibetans, it is precisely this drug trafficking and the powerful military forces the Wa were able to raise, that has stopped them from falling victim to similar. And in that context, he asks who can blame them?

In Narcotopia, Patrick Winn delivers a thought-provoking narrative, a commendable piece of investigative journalism, which tells an untold story little known outside of the region. This is an insightful and valuable book.

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