This title was first published in 2003. This important study contains a detailed socio-economic and political description of a region where opium and heroin are both produced and consumed. By carefully relating drug production, trade and consumption to a relatively inaccessible area on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, the book teaches us not only about the area – itself fascinating enough, particularly since it came into global prominence following the terrorist attack of 11 September 2001 – but also about the global dimensions of the problem.