**Commentary** **Background** - On several occasions for decades, the CIA has been accused of drug trafficking in multiple regions including France, Mexico, Venezuela, Laos and [more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking). - These claims have led to official investigations, but cases were often [dropped inexplicably](https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0001372115.pdf). - Many now believe the CIA were involved at least in _complicity_, if not _conspiracy_ in funneling crack cocaine into black communities in the 1980s. This is known as the CIA-Contra-Crack Cocaine Controversy, and is one of the most widely believed conspiracies of drug trafficking in the CIA. - One allegation that is particularly relevant to recent events regards CIA involvement in [heroin trafficking](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-asian-studies/article/abs/politics-of-heroin-cia-complicity-in-the-global-drug-trade-by-alfred-w-mccoy-brooklyn-lawrence-hill-books-1991-xv-634-pp-2900-cloth-1695-paper/743C248DB80DAFB32A1B15A055DE0007) in Afghanistan, which is speculated to be a contributor of their failure to prevent the Taliban's success over Kabul. **Evidence** - The CIA looked the other way while Afghanistan’s opium production grew from about 100 tonnes annually in the 1970s to [2,000 tonnes by 1991](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/jan/09/how-the-heroin-trade-explains-the-us-uk-failure-in-afghanistan.). - Within just a few years, Afghanistan provided over 60% of the US heroin trade and 80% of Europe's. **Motivations** - In the case of the crack epidemic, it is speculated that intelligence agencies deliberately brought the drugs into lower class, black communities for the purpose of preventing their economic and political success and stability. - In addition to this, those involved were said to have used their drug trafficking profits to help fund the [Contra army's war effort](https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/9712/ch01p1.htm) against Nicaragua. - [War, politics and money](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/03/opinion/IHT-the-cia-drug-connectionis-as-old-as-the-agency.html) are often the key motivators, and can be noted in the cases of the Korean War and so-called "Secret War" against the communist movement of Laos. Despite this, no solid evidence has surfaced. The CIA continues to deny claims, yet this does not surprise or change the opinions of those who support the allegations.