The Heroin Wars

Tracing the history of the narcotics trade in Burma and the War on Drugs, this documentary follows a 1964 expedition in which director Adrian Cowell and cameraman Chris Menges ventured to Burma's mountainous eastern frontier to document the Shan insurgents waging a brutal civil war against a military dictatorship. The destitute Shan rely on opium to finance their struggle. Over the last thirty years, Cowell has returned repeatedly to record the evolving civil war and the burgeoning opium trade. The first and last episodes are produced in association with WGBH/FRONTLINE.