The gripping true story of the indigenous ruler of the world's most powerful drug nation and America's fight against it.
In central Asia, a drug-producing country, the Wa people reign supreme. They dominate the Golden Triangle, a mountainous region of Burma located between Thailand and China. Their 30,000-strong army, armed with missiles and attack drones, makes Mexican cartels look like street gangs.
Wa's bosses are unrivaled in the region's $60 billion meth trade and are famous for mass-producing the pink, vanilla-flavored drug.Drugs fund Bang Wa, a real nation with its own laws, national anthem, schools, and power grid. Although revered by their people, Wa leaders were despised by American policymakers, who called them evil “tycoons” who were “poisoning our society for profit.”
In Narcotopia, award-winning journalist Patrick Winn uncovers the truth behind Asia's largest drug trafficking organization, as told by a Wa commander turned DEA informant. This gripping story busts the myths of the drug war and leads to a chilling revelation: the origins of the Wa cartel bear traces of the CIA.
This is the story of indigenous people who harnessed the power of drugs to create a nation where there had never been one - and where US intelligence's covert operations went awry.
