This map was published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) as part of the 2018 World Drug Report.

Since the late 20th century, both opium cultivation and heroin production and distribution have been concentrated in three regions of the world, which are highlighted in different colours on the map:

• The Golden Crescent, shown in pink, is the region of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan that has been the centre of the heroin trade for decades. You can see how the market supplies this drug, through clandestine trade, to Europe, Central Asia, India and all of Africa.
• The Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia is shown in blue. Production is concentrated in Thailand, Myanmar and Laos, and mainly supplies China, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
• Colombia and Mexico are shown in yellow as the main producers in the American continent.

This entire clandestine heroin trafficking network has been traced by the UNODC using information from all seized shipments and information gathered during various police operations between 2012 and 2016.

You can read more about the history and trafficking of heroin in this newsletter article: The history and present state of opiates in the world.

Sources

• World Drug Report 2018 – Drug markets