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TV SCREENING: THE CUTTING EDGE



Dear friends,

SBS TV in Australia will be screening THE HEROIN WARS on the programme
CUTTING EDGE at 8.30 P.M. on 4 November. 

TUESDAY 4 NOVEMBER-EVENING (IN AUSTRALIA)

8: 30 P.M.

THE CUTTING EDGE
THE HEROIN WARS
A DOCUMENTARY IN THREE PARTS SCREENING OVER THREE WEEKS

30 years ago in the Shan State of Burma opium was a small-scale crop
cultivated by the local women. "How did this quaint bucolic business in
congealed sap become the narco-monster of today, flooding.. the world
with heroin? A questioned asked by Filmmaker Adrian Cowell and addressed
by him in this impeccably researched and searching series filmed from
1964 to 1996.

Three decades ago, Adrian Cowell and Chris Menges started filming two
s0-called Kings of Opium -- Law Sit Han and Khun Sa -- as they fought
for control of the opium trade in Shan State. At stake was a third of
the world's narcotic supply. At various time during the '70s, both drug
lords made proposals to the U.S. Government to negotiate and end to
opium growing.  But, after much debate the U.S. decided that it would be
more effective to declare an all-out "War on Drugs" by stopping Shan
opium convoys.

Shan guerrillas opposed to the Burmese military dictatorship ran the
convoys and charged a tax on the profits in order to finance their
purchase of armaments.

Today the drug lords are infinitely rich and more powerful.  The amount
of opium produced in Shan State has increased by 1000% and police have
captured less than 1%.

Episode 1 -- describes the origin of the Shan guerrilla movement and
their fight for independence: The campaign against the opium convoys and
the behind-the-scenes manoeuvres that destroyed the opium negotiations.

Tuesday 11 November

Episode 2 -- looks at Hong Kong, known as SMACK CITY -- drug capital of
South-east Asia, and examines its thirty years fight to control trade in
narcotics.

Tuesday 18
Episode 3 (Final) -- Returns to the guerrillas' continuing war for
independence, which is financially dependent on the drug trade. Also
features extraordinary footage or personal interview with Khun Sa. Is he
a patriotic revolutionary, as he claims, or just another corrupt drug
lord driven by addiction to power and wealth?