What If the War on Drugs Was the Cover Story?
About this episode
This episode investigates the hidden history behind the War on Drugs and its implications in U.S. history.
For fifty years, America was told it was fighting drugs. So why did the drugs keep winning? That question sits at the center of one of the darkest and most uncomfortable investigations in modern U.S. history. Because when you line up the record, the pattern gets hard to ignore: users got punished, neighborhoods got crushed, prisons exploded, and entire generations were told the state was trying to save them... while the supply chains stayed alive, the money kept moving, and some of the most connected players seemed to operate in the shadow of something larger than law enforcement. In this episode of Divergent Files , we investigate the hidden history behind the War on Drugs, from World War II intelligence deals with the mafia and Cold War tolerance of narcotics routes, to Air America, Laos, the Golden Triangle, the Contra cocaine scandal, Manuel Noriega, cartel money laundering through major banks, Afghanistan’s opium boom during U.S. occupation, and Operation Fast and Furious. Using declassified files, Senate hearings, court records, inspector general reports, and public investigations, we follow the documented record through the places where anti-drug policy, covert operations…
People in this episode
Host: Divergent Files Podcast
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Air America, CIA, Contra
Places: Laos, Golden Triangle, Afghanistan
More episodes of Divergent Files Podcast
- Why Does Déjà Vu Feel So Real?
- Every 80 Years, America Breaks—Here's Why
- The Sodder Fire: Five Children, No Bodies
- Why the Most Dangerous Cyberattacks Won't Look Like Movies
- Three Men Vanished from a Sealed Lighthouse | The Flannan Isles Mystery
- Did the Inca Build Peru… or Inherit Something Much Older?
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Divergent Files Podcast podcast page.