Short answers, pulled from the story.
The Qing dynasty issued an edict banning opium smoking in 1730. This early prohibition attempt marked one of the first major government efforts to control recreational drug use in history.
The destruction of opium at Humen led directly to the First Opium War between China and Britain in 1839. The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ended that war but did not legalize opium importation.
Nigeria, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Mali, Benin, Togo, and Ghana serve as key transit points for cocaine produced in Colombia and Bolivia. Police officers are often bribed because a normal monthly wage of less than two dollars cannot compete with cocaine values.
Profits from Captagon smuggling alone reached an estimated fifty-seven billion dollars annually in 2022. The regime earned more than ninety percent of its total revenue through this single drug business.
On the 10th of November 2015, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's nephews were arrested by the US Drug Enforcement Administration. This arrest occurred after Venezuela became a primary path to the United States and Europe for illegal drugs originating in Colombia.