The illegal drug trade in Lebanon involves an expanding Lebanese involvement in both drug production and trade, a phenomenon substantiated by studies. The economic and political upheaval in Lebanon, as delineated in a study by the Euro-Gulf Information Center, has driven Hezbollah, wherein narcotics serve as a notable revenue stream, to intensify its involvement in the drug economy. Western intelligence agencies estimate that Lebanon produces over 4 million pounds of hashish and 20,000 pounds of heroin annually, generating profits exceeding US$4 billion. According to The Washington Post, Lebanon's drug industry contributes substantially to the country's economy, accounting for over half of its foreign-exchange earnings.
Although the drug trade remains a major problem in Lebanon, the scale of the issue is nowhere near as large as it was during the civil war where it plausibly accounted for about half of Europe's heroin consumption and a fifth of US consumption, today Lebanon stands mostly as a transit hub for drug smuggling rather than a main producer.https://www.mtv.com.lb/News/Articles/177965/Lebanon-a-transit-for-cocaine-and-heroin
According to Waleed Bukhari, Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, there were attempts to smuggle 600 million narcotic pills from Lebanon to Saudi Arabia between 2015 and 2021. He further stated that the amount of drugs smuggled from Lebanon is enough "to drown not only Saudi Arabia but also the entire Arab world." Since the 1990s, drug smuggling has emerged as a primary source of income for the Assad regime in Syria and its ally Hezbollah. The main drug traded is Captagon, a member of the amphetamine family known as "the jihad drug," due to its use by radical groups in Syria, including, such as ISIS.
History Origins (1950s–1960s) As per Beqaa Valley farmers, a farm located approximately 30 km from the capital Beirut and near the Syrian border is the epicenter of the drug industry. Lebanon has grown marijuana for millennia prior to its independence declaration in 1943.
During the 1950s and 1960s, the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and its predecessor agencies considered Lebanon to be one of the most crucial locations for the production and trafficking of hashish and opium globally. The article suggests that the trades could have potentially contributed up to a third or more to Lebanon's gross domestic product.
According to Jonathan V. Marshall, nearly all senior government officials, customs agents, senior security personnel, commercial figures, and major landowners—particularly in the fertile Bakaa Valley area—were associated with drug trade, and many derived substantial incomes from it. While information is scant, Marshall asserts that this early "black economy" played a significant role in Lebanon's economic development and rise to prominence as a regional trading hub.
Lebanon's drug Industry during the Civil War (1970s–1980s) The drug industry in Lebanon was significantly expanded during the Lebanese Civil War (1975–1990). One month after the eruption of the civil war, German police uncovered nearly 3 tons of Lebanese hashish. This was the largest drug seizure in the country's history.
By 1977, Lebanese farmers were growing marijuana over 10,000 acres of cannabis fields valued at approximately a billion dollars, reaching by the end of the civil war (1990) 125,000 acres, or 49% of northern Bakka valley land. As the war progressed, so did the drug industry. In 1976, Syrian military took control over the Bakaa valley and by 1982, under the watchful eye of Syria's occupying army, marijuana fields covered nearly 90 percent of the region.
Toward the mid-1980s, poppy fields started replacing marijuana fields, beginning heroin production, with its trade reaching billions of dollars. According to Fawwaz Traboulsi, in his book "Culture et commerce de drogue au Liban", secret laboratories were reportedly processing not only heroin but also Colombian cocaine, contributed to the expanding narcotics market in Lebanon. The estimated production value amounted to $6 billion, eventually reaching a high of $150 billion, paying parties involved in the trade an estimate of $500 million to $1 billion annually. The product shift gained popularity due to its higher value and smuggling became easier due to its lighter weight, increasing drug revenues substantially. According to Elizabeth Picard, Trafficking was not only tolerated by the state but the country's political elite group was directly involved in the industry.
As the government's authority weakened in the country, marijuana and opium became important sources of income for various militias and political factions. Trafficking increased during the war, taking advantage of the situation. According to Picard, the initiation of Lebanon's protracted and civil war cannot be attributed to the drug war lords, as they had been conducting their illicit trade relatively without interference for a considerable period. However, the conflict created a demand for secure pathways to transport their marijuana and opium yields, and the militias sought financial resources. This led to a symbiotic alliance between the two parties.
Toward the end of the civil war, the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics Matters defined Lebanon as the "key processing transshipment center in the Middle East for opiates, with the emergence of about one hundred from 1985 to 1987. In 1988, heroin production reached about ten tons."
In the 1980s, Syria, which had a significant military presence in Lebanon, particularly in the Beqaa Valley, played a central role in controlling and benefiting from the drug trade according to The Washington Post. Syrian military and intelligence officers stationed in the Beqaa were directly or indirectly involved in trafficking, leading to substantial financial gains. The involvement of high-ranking Syrian officials, possibly reaching the inner circle of Syria's government, was suspected.
Post civil-war area (1990s–2000s) After the civil war in Lebanon ended, the country faced the challenge of rebuilding itself. According to the 2007 report by The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, Lebanon witnessed a surge in its drug production industry. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Bekaa Valley, particularly the parts controlled by Syria, became a hub for the cultivation of narcotics. The drug trade became a major source of income for various factions and militias, who used the proceeds to finance their military activities. With the civil war fueled by drug revenues, Lebanon emerged as a significant player in the global drug market. The drug trade not only became an economic lifeline for many groups but also contributed to the destabilization of the region.
In the mid-1990s, Syria solidified its control over Lebanon, particularly in the Beqaa Valley, where drug crops were concentrated. The Syrian government, along with various factions and militias, directly or indirectly participated in drug trafficking. This period saw an escalation in the involvement of Syrian military and intelligence officers in the drug trade. The Syrian military's engagement extended from extortion of money from drug growers to independent smuggling of significant amounts of hashish and heroin to the West. During this period a significant portion of the drug harvest was smuggled to Egypt, Israel, Europe, and North America. Lebanese heroin, in particular, was noted to constitute a substantial portion of the heroin entering the United States and Western Europe.
During the beginning of the 2000s, Lebanon experienced a shift in the dynamics of the drug trade. Efforts were taken by Lebanese Christian officials to draw attention to the issue and inquiries to the Lebanese Narcotics Bureau were issued for them to glimpse into the extent of drug trafficking.
2010s–2020s
Despite efforts to address the issue, the continuing inability of the government to effectively control Lebanon's drug-producing Beqaa Valley, coupled with its ongoing struggle to close illicit Captagon factories across the country, allows for the persistent occurrence of drug trades. In 2016, the Captagon business in Lebanon has been estimated to be worth more than $1 billion. During the period from 2019 to 2021, an increase in cultivation was noticed. This is due to the deepening economic crisis, the lack in law enforcement and farmers seeking to make a large income.
In April 2020, Lebanon's parliament passed a law that legalized the cultivation of cannabis when containing less than 1% THC for medical and industrial purposes. The legislation also noted criteria aimed to prevent individuals with criminal records from obtaining licenses. Critics claim that this still allowed most farmers to continue their production and expand the industry.
On 15 June 2021, Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF) stopped an attempt to smuggle 37.2 kg of Captagon pills into Saudi Arabia through Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport. The pills were hidden inside a package of electric water pumps. Later that month another revelation was made by Saudi authorities at the port of Jeddah revealing another major drug bust, seizing an estimated 14 million Captagon pills. They were reported to be sent from Lebanon, hidden inside iron plates. Additionally, Lebanese authorities seized a batch of Captagon pills also destined for Saudi Arabia later that same year. The ISF stated that a total of 17.4 kg, the equivalent of 100,000 pills, were seized that year.
The COVID-19 pandemic only contributed to the financial strain in the region. According to the PLOS Globe Public Health report, As a result of the economic challenges faced in the ENP-South region, the drug economy has expanded, not just as a result of an increase in illicit substance demand, but also through an increase in participants in the trafficking, production, and sale of illicit substances. In Lebanon, for example, some farmers appear to have switched from growing legal crops to cannabis cultivation to supply a stable income.
During this period, the most significant drug arrest by Lebanese authorities in Bekaa was Hassan Daqou, also known as the "King of Captagon". Reports claim that Daqou was involved with Hezbollah, conducting business in Tufail, a town that overlap the border with Syria and is controlled by Hezbollah. Daqou was turned over to the Lebanese army because of official allegations for establishing a Captagon laboratory in the area and overseeing a smuggling network sending pills to Greece and Saudi Arabia.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's (UNODC) 2016 World Drug Report explains, that although Lebanon is a significant and ongoing drug state, it only represents a fraction of the global market these day. Reports show that during the period 2009–2014 the world's largest producer of cannabis resin continues to be Morocco, followed by Afghanistan and, to a lesser extent, Lebanon, India and Pakistan. The finding is echoed in the 2016 EU Drug Markets Report, with the 2016 US State Department International Narcotics Control Strategy. The Report mentioned Lebanon only as a hashish "transit point" and not a producer.