Chasing the Dragon

Today’s installment of NtHWS Extras is gonna have a past-is-prologue feel, as we look back at Japan’s alleged narcotics profiteering during World War II. We’re accustomed to hearing plenty about the Taliban’s reliance on narco-dollars, but Japan’s wartime opium production is now largely forgotten. At the time, however, American politicians were fond of harping on the Axis nation’s plot to hook our kids on smack, then use the profits to help establish the Co-Prosperity Sphere. From a 1938 Time pi