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Meese Links Soviets to Heroin Output

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United Press International

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III said today the Soviet Union at least tacitly approves of the cultivation of opium poppies in Afghanistan for the production of heroin.

Meese also backed President Reagan’s contention that officials of Nicaragua’s Sandinista government are dealing narcotics.

The attorney general, just back from a trip to Thailand, Burma, India, Pakistan and Italy to discuss drug trafficking, said on the ABC “Good Morning America” program, “It’s clear that most of the heroin, most of the opium poppies in that area, are coming from Afghanistan.”

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Asked if the Soviets know about the poppy growing and tacitly approve “the growth and shipment” of the drug, Meese said, “I think there’s no question about it, because remember, it is the Soviet Union that controls Afghanistan now.”

In a recent nationally broadcast speech, Reagan said top officials of the Nicaraguan Sandinista government are involved in the trafficking of drugs.

Meese was asked why a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration said after Reagan’s speech that his office could not substantiate the President’s statement.

“The DEA spokesman, whoever it was, either misspoke or was misinterpreted,” Meese said. “Before the President made that statement, the statement itself was verified by DEA and the head of DEA was with me on the trip when that statement was made.”

Meese added, “The President was correct and the head of the DEA backs him up. Sandinista officials are definitely involved.”

In another interview on the NBC “Today” program, Meese said the purpose of his trip was to indicate to the heads of governments “our efforts to help them and work with them on enforcement action,” to seek their cooperation in destroying drug crops and to spread First Lady Nancy Reagan’s message against drug addiction.

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