164. National Security Decision Memorandum 2671 2

TO:

  • The Secretary of The Treasury
  • The Secretary of Defense
  • The Attorney General
  • The Deputy Secretary of State
  • The Administrator, Agency for International Development

SUBJECT:

  • Turkish Opium Production

The President has reviewed the Interdepartmental Group memorandum of July 13, 1974, as well as the agency views submitted separately. He has instructed that the United States take the following steps in response to the recent decision by the Government of Turkey to lift its ban on opium production:

1.
Enter into discussions with the Government of Turkey and relevant United Nations agencies on specific measures to prevent opium smuggling. Our major objectives in these discussions will be that the Turkish Government:
  • —severely restrict acreage in the first year and expand only as controls are proven to be effective;
  • —immediately experiment with, and ultimately shift to, more controllable agricultural and technological processes for the production of opium;
  • —design, install and implement a stringent control system.
2.
Make clear to the Turkish Government that suspension of all US economic and military assistance to Turkey is required under Section 481 of the Foreign Assistance Act if it is determined that the Turkish Government has failed to take adequate steps to prevent narcotic drugs produced in Turkey from unlawfully entering the United States.

Henry A. Kissinger
  1. Source: Ford Library, National Security Decision Memoranda and Study Memoranda, Box 1, NSDM 267. Secret. Copies were sent to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Director of Central Intelligence, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of Domestic Council, and the Director of the United States Information Agency. The Interdepartmental Group memorandum of July 13 is summarized in Document 162.
  2. President Ford issued instructions for responding to the reintroduction of opium cultivation in Turkey.