Forest of Ecstasy

A mission of ignorance and stupidity. The real criminals are the law enforcers. Any plant that has its puritys extracted are not drugs, drugs are a mixture of two or more chemicals. The war on "drugs" is a war on free thinking, freedom, and pleasure. The Religious governments don't want you to think out side the slave world they have made for us.

I think people who buy or produce hardwood furniture are the real criminals.

I have an idea. Instead of criminalizing freedom of choice why doesn't the government legalize minimal tree cutting to reduce slash and burn like methods of the Cinnamomum parthenoxylon tree. Allow them to cut down the older or dead trees to allow smaller trees to thrive in a canopy opening. Make them get a permit or something, limit the number of trees they can cut down per year, and make sure they don't let the waste runoff into streams. Then use the proceeds from this permit to reestablish previously destroyed pieces of forests.

Require a government inspector for each site, then if they continue to break the law fine the fuckkkkkkkk out of them. Prohibition obviously, PAINFULLY OBVIOUSLY, doesn't work and never has and NEVER WILL. The United States knows this even though it doesn't want to learn from it's mistakes, our leading by example of our broken policies for other countries is DESTROYING their ecosystems.

Therefore it's time for a different tactic before this tree becomes extinct because of prohibitionist policies. And what I hate the most about this video is the government of Cambodia is trying to admonish the degredation of the forest of the factory makers YET they're burning TOXIC chemicals and destroying the environment with their factory destroying methods.

PS: No I'm not saying slash and burn in the traditional sense but they are burning the afterproduct therefore using the term is literally still true albeit different from the terminology's traditional meaning.

Who would have thought that a little pill that some bimbo took at a club here in the states had roots in a Cambodian rainforest.

Is the season over already? I was hoping we'd see more shows.

The closing statement that what you've shown here is "all because of the demand for a recreational drug" could just as easily have reflected a different viewpoint, such as "all because of the believe that it is appropriate or feasible for governments to seek to eradicate recreational drug use."

Just another example of the failing US led war on drugs in somebody else's sovereign nation. I guess it's OK to cut down trees to make all of this oil for the corporate perfume and cosmetics industry but not for a relatively harmless drug. Great Vanguard piece nonetheless, if not a little one-sided.

Remember Avatar? Well this is the modern setting....

I agree with other commenters on the importance of treating the issue of the destructive effects of safrole production and the politics around the trade and legal status of MDMA as separate issues. The subtext of this story that "environmental destruction by the drug trade justifies the War on Drugs" is simply an attempt to legitimize one issue by appeal to another that's more generally agreed upon. (Analogy: The conflation of issues around the sex industry with those of human trafficking and forced labor.) It is also important to note that illegal logging for tropical woods is a far greater threat to the rainforests of Cambodia.

The fact is that safrole as a precursor-of-choice to MDMA and other amphetamine compounds only came about when the availability of more easily-available precursors was shut down. It is also the case that safrole could be produced sustainably if it were sourced from Brazil, from the Piper hispidinervum tree, and could be the basis for a sustainable agroforestry industry in that part of the world. (See : http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1999/v4-479.html )

There are probably other, more sustainable economies that could be encouraged in the rainforests of Cambodia. But, like so many problems of the world's poor Southern regions, this requires that the developed countries actually take a serious interest in that part of the world, rather than simply neglecting them most of the time, and marching in with a heavy-handed response when problems of political insurgency, drug trafficking, or human trafficking present themselves

tree's are logged so you can write on a post it note, rivers are polluted so you can get power, this is something that brings people pleasure, leave them alone. Just because its not taxed and doesnt have a barcode, everyone thinks its evil.

Always enjoy the Vanguard reports, and I understand that it is difficult to cover all the questions in any given report. But I have one anyway :-)

In the Cambodian drug ministry’s labs, there was safrole oil in bottles like those you buy from chemical supply companies like Sigma-Aldrich or Fisher Sci. Your report suggested that the safrole oil for ecstasy comes almost exclusively from illegal logging Cambodia, but where do the supposed legal supplies of the oil come from? If this chemical is used in perfumes and insecticides, I would assume there has to be a mass-supply source for it. Are there factory-farmed plants that generate this chemical for mass-chemical use? If so, what are the benefits for ecstasy-makers to use the illegal sources of safrole oil?

Thanks!

Very interesting, thanks

i remember about a year ago current used to have a segment in between shows called 'under the radar' or something smiler. it would give information about local happenings in west coast cities and the like. one of the events they advertised was for a rave in LA. real classy current. promote raves but do Vanguard specials about the international war on ecstasy. take a stance, dont be trendy.

The cause of this environmental destruction can be traced back to government prohibition laws. MDMA (Ecstasy), was originally studied for it's benefit treating mental disorders and addiction; this research is now being continued after being shut down for over a decade by prohibitionist laws.

Blaming the problem on organized crime is such an attractive tactic for covering up bad policy.

How about training those Cambodian oil extractors to operate sustainably and selectively log the trees and minimize forest damage. Decriminalize the drug and the black market surfaces as legitimate sustainable commerce.

Nearly all of my friends are part of that "club kid" scene.
I'm drug free and have been for only a few weeks.
This is very enlightening.
My task... show it to everyone I know.

.......................this is wrong...... wat tey do the forset

fascinating... absolutely fascinating.

Another excellent reason to legalize all recreational drugs! Granted there will be continued harvest for perfume and ecstasy, but with controlled havesting using better equipment and extraction methods, there would be less waste and pollution. We all saw, though well intended, the wasteful destruction of oil on the program. This only forces the criminal element to "up" their wanten destruction and exploitation of the enviorment. Reverse progess is the only fruit of seventy-plus years of the "Drug War". More reverse progress is all that this war can promise us. This is not healthy or in the best interest of us as a species. It is not in the best interest of the forest or any of it's inhabitant's.

Although I agree that legalization of drugs would alleviate a lot of these black market crimes, I think one of the points of the show was the destruction of this rain forest to harvest the sap. I do not think that the legalization would decrease the destruction of the rain forest necessarily if this tree is only found in this region. Granted, the lucrative nature of harvesting this sap may fall but the destruction of the the rain forest will still continue.

Adam, you, the crew, and the Cambodian soldiers have gutz. Thanks for the great story.

Very poignant brother, you displayed exactly what it means to be a journalist! I wonder how high up the chain the profits from this insidious trade go though, because we all know that Cambodia doesn't have the most honest ''stewards'' in government..LOL

Very inspirational video! Didn't know much about ecstasy until now, and how Holland was also a major producer!

Very interesting show. It amazed me to learn about how the sap of this particular tree can garner so much money. It makes me wonder how people gained the knowledge about how lucrative harvesting this sap could be.

once you legalize pot, this crap'll stop

I think their is a moral inconsistency that is implicit in this video stating, "since the creation of MDMA incites harmful damage on precious rain-forests, it follows that the consumption or purchase of MDMA (ecstasy) is bad".

the morality of ecstasy has nothing to do with the detrimental effects of safrole oil havesting, that is a separate issue although closely connected and even intertwined.

I support the consumption of MDMA
AND
I am against the harvesting of safrole oil in Cambodia

Now, weather the usage of Ecstasy containing mdma produced from safrole oil harvested from rain-forest is moral is a different question.
Especially, since in today's world of illicit drugs it is nearly impossible to trace where your MDMA comes from (or else they would all have been subverted).

if ecstasy was legal, we wouldn't have this problem or the problem of the high crime that follows any illegal substance. MDMA in my opinion is the most constructive drug there is, It will change your life for the better.

very nice Adam, you have guts to get into the situations you do..

Totally amazing that you always "go there," Adam. You're an inspiration to the crew out here, and the story was even more sensational. Make it happen. Full-court press, all the time.

and irony hoists its head high as no doubt many of those ectasy-popping clubbers consider themselves liberal and environmentally-friendly. This should be shown in clubs and raves. And sadly this is just another way in which first world countries screw up third world countries in their never-ending hunger for resources

this is so sad to see that we humans always find a way to destroy the nature for some unhealthy and unnecessary habits!!!!

Very enlightening, first off I didn't know Holland was the major manufacturer of Ecstacy, and secondly I didn't know that it was derived primarily from saffrole oil which is extracted primarily from tree's in Cambodia. Although I have nothing against ecstacy used in moderation for a social enhancer, ancient forests and environments shouldn't be at stake for it. If this is the only way to manufacture ecstacy I am not for this drug anymore. Ecstacy should be banned in Holland, and the Cambodian government should take higher action to protect its jungles/forests.

Thank you for this very insightful clip, but next time please include more detail on the history behind the poachers, the drug manufacturers, the impact on the surrounding enviromental life, and the governments actions in it also. You're my favorite vanguard journalist though, so I hope to see from you again soon.

Good show but the limited scope of the episodes focus rang true throughout the episode. The pernicious pursuit of a precursor to ecstasy is destroying the environment in a third world country, that much is clear. But it seems like that's all that was discussed (with passing references to poaching). An expansion upon some of the characters in the film, like the conservationist, whose background wasn't discussed at all (what was his motivation to focus on Cambodia? how did he arrive there? what is his professional background?) or the extent of action taken by the Cambodian government (what resources are they throwing at this problem? why isn't their drug task force also playing a role in the environmental ministry's eradication efforts?) probably would have been helpful.

But either way, I love Current Vanguard, and this episode kept with rest and exposed me to contemporaneous events in other parts of the globe that literally NO other American news organization covers in the same detail and with the high journalistic quality I expect from Current.

There may have been other factors limiting the depth of story, but the effect of the black market in drugs is almost never something that is accurately portrayed in the media, and for that I commend Adam and the Current team that worked on this episode.

what a disgrace to my country.

Great show, very enlightening!

Good stuff. I guess that's all I have to say.