{"product_id":"the-golden-triangle-inside-southeast-asias-drug-trade","title":"The Golden Triangle: Inside Southeast Asia's Drug Trade","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Golden Triangle region that joins Burma  Thailand  and Laos is one of the global centers of opiate and methamphetamine production. Opportunistic Chinese businessmen and leaders of various armed groups are largely responsible for the manufacture of these drugs. The region is defined by the apparently conflicting parallel strands of criminality and efforts at state building  a tension embodied by a group of individuals who are simultaneously local political leaders  drug entrepreneurs  and members of heavily armed militias. Ko-lin Chin  a Chinese American criminologist who was born and raised in Burma  conducted five hundred face-to-face interviews with poppy growers  drug dealers  drug users  armed group leaders  law-enforcement authorities  and other key informants in Burma  Thailand  and China. The Golden Triangle provides a lively portrait of a region in constant transition  a place where political development is intimately linked to the vagaries of the global market in illicit drugs. Chin explains the nature of opium growing  heroin and methamphetamine production  drug sales  and drug use. He also shows how government officials who live in these areas view themselves not as drug kingpins  but as people who are carrying the responsibility for local economic development on their shoulders.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44963044818997,"sku":"ByrdShop_080147521X","price":30.31,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780801475214.jpg?v=1770404761","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-golden-triangle-inside-southeast-asias-drug-trade","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}