Jim Morrison Meets “China White”

Intro

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite”.

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell by William Blake, a poem from which the Doors derived their name.

Jim Morrison, lead singer/songwriter of The Doors, might have been the hottest burning star to fall victim to “China White”, the Golden Triangle’s premier heroin product.

The Doors sold over 100 million records and was the first American band to have eight consecutive gold albums between 1967-1972.

Jim Morrison was dead at age 27 on July 3rd, 1971 in Paris, France of a heroin overdose.

His death in the early 70’s not only marked a tragic end to one of Rock’s most charismatic and manic stars ever, it also marked a beginning of worldwide distribution of heroin refined in the Southeast Asia’s infamous Golden Triangle.

The Players

China White: Our seductress and protagonist. Double UO Globe Brand #4 heroin-the powerhouse heroin produced in Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle. 95%-98% pure.

Sources say Morrison overdosed on China White. ¹

China White was first produced in the Golden Triangle beginning 1969-70. The refineries were located in Laos and this nearly pure heroin, was smuggled into Saigon during the Vietnam War. From Saigon, it was exported by the Corsican Mafia and Laotian government officials to France.

The Corsican Mafia ran the infamous Marseille heroin refineries which by 1970 were being shut down by French authorities.

Equally troubling for the Corsican Mafia was the shut off of the Turkish opium spigot, heroin’s raw ingredient, due to pressure by the United States.

To solve this crisis, the Corsican Mafia turned to the Golden Triangle and began supplying its Marseille refineries with Golden Triangle crude morphine² in the 1960’s, and later with China White heroin.

During the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Golden Triangle produced and exported more heroin than any other region in the world. ³

Jim Morrison: Poet. Rockstar. Alcoholic. Vulgar. Charismatic on stage. Sensuous. Bad boy good looks. Hashish lover. Acid tripper. Undisciplined. Crazed. Rude. Iconoclastic. Lonely. Reckless. Self-proclaimed Lizard King.

Jim Morrison is etched into Rock culture. His star stills shines intensely today.

New York City sways to the docile anthem “New York, New York” crooned by Frank Sinatra wearing a suit and tie. Los Angeles throbs to its menacing anthem “L.A. Woman”, sang by the self-proclaimed “Lizard King” who often performed shirtless in tight fitting snake skin pants.⁴

The song and album were released in 1971 just after his death.

Pam Courson: Jim Morrison’s on and off girlfriend and soulmate. A heroin addict who also died of an overdose several years later. It’s likely she gave her boyfriend his fatal dose.

Courson scored her heroin in Paris from another boyfriend, Jean de Breteuil, who had connections for potent heroin.

She admitted that she and Morrison had been snorting heroin in the early morning hours.

She found Morrison dead in the bathtub.

Morrison’s last words: “Pam, are you there?”

Jean de Breteuil: Drug dealer to Rock’s biggest stars. Rumored to have given Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones a compact full of heroin. Rumored to be the source of the heroin that killed Janis Joplin.⁵

de Breteuil: 22 years old. Rich kid from a French aristocractic family. Father owned most of the French newspapers in North Africa. The young de Breteuil had connections with Moroccan embassy employees who helped him smuggle hashish and heroin into Los Angeles.⁶

de Breteuil first met Courson in Los Angeles around 1967 in Los Angeles and began an on and off relationship with her. He introduced her to his heroin.

The women in de Breteuil’s life loved his heroin more than him.

de Breteuil was present at Morrison’s apartment the morning he died. Courson called him first. He rushed over to speak to Courson as confirmed by others at the scene. He urged Courson to keep quiet about the drugs and to get rid of any drugs she still had. He hurriedly left Paris that same day for the family compound in Morocco, a safe haven.

de Breteuil would also die of a heroin overdose less than a year later.

Alain Ronay (left) Jim Morrison (right)

Alain Ronay: Good friend of Morrison. Pam Courson called him after finding Morrison unresponsive. His friend Agnes Varda⁷, a film maker of some renoun, called the Paris Fire Department to summon help. Ronay and Varda showed up at Morrison’s apartment just after the Paris firefighters had declared him dead.

Pam Courson admitted to Ronay that she and Morrison had been snorting lines of heroin in the early morning hours. Ronay urged her to get rid of any drugs she might still have and she replied she had already flushed all of it down the toilet.

Marianne Faithfull: X-girlfriend of Mick Jagger from 1965-1970. A singer in her own right, her early recordings were written and produced by Jagger and Kieth Richards. She wrote “Sister Morphine” which the Rolling Stones released in 1971.

Faithful was a heroin addict. Her boyfriend in 1971 was conveniently Jean de Breteuil-the heroin dealer-and they lived part-time in Paris and at times stayed in the London apartment of Keith Richards.

She states that in Summer, 1971, de Breteuil was selling a very powerful heroin from the Far East called “cotton-candy” that had a pink hue.^{8 9} It was this heroin she says that Morrison snorted.

She also relates that she was present when de Breteuil received a phone call in the early morning hours of July 3rd informing him of Morrison’s overdose.

Warm Bath. Cold Body

Dateline: July 3, 1971
     17 Rue Beautreillis, Paris France
     circa 8:00 a.m.

Paramedics arrived at 17 Rue Beautreillis in the morning after receiving a call that someone needed emergency medical aid.

They found Morrison in a half-full bathtub of warm water. His head rested on the side of the tub above the water.

They promptly removed him from the bathtub, laid him on the bathroom floor and quickly realized his body temperature was a result of the warm bath water. Jim Morrison was dead.

Paramedics then moved Morrison to the bedroom and notified police.

Pam Courson’s Statement

Courson discovered Morrison unresponsive in the bathtub sometime in the morning of July 3rd. The exact time is unclear. She called Alain Ronay at 8 a.m. to ask that he call an ambulance. (She did not speak French.)

Courson had also called de Breteuil before calling Ronay and there is no evidence that either Courson or de Bretieul sought emergency aid after that call.

Ronay rushed to the apartment along with his roommate Agnes Varda. (It was Varda who actually called the Paris Fire Department for emergency help.) An ambulance and police authorities were already there.

They met Courson who immediately blurted that “Jim is dead.” Ronay noticed that Courson was all wet.

A police inspector asked Ronay if Morrison used drugs. Ronay denied any drug use (a lie), saying Morrison only drank alcohol.

Courson told Ronay in detail, away from the police inspector, what had happened.¹⁰

Courson admitted that she and Morrison had snorted lines of heroin. She admitted the heroin was hers and that Morrison snorted more than she did.

This is an abbreviated version of events Courson told Ronay on the morning of July 3rd about Morrison’s death:

As the two lay in bed together, Jim struggled to breath which woke her up. Courson had to slap him awake and he said he wanted to take a bath. He began vomiting while in the bathtub. After vomiting, he said he felt better and Courson went back to bed leaving Morrison in the bathtub. She awoke sometime later and was concerned that Morrison had never returned to their bed. She checked the bathroom and found Morrison unresponsive.

Ronay told Courson to get rid of any drugs before the medical examiner arrived and not to mention them at all. Courson stated that she had already flushed the drugs down the toilet. (Probably at the urging of de Breteuil who had already been to the apartment and spoke to her.)

She repeated the same details to the medical examiner hours later, and unsurprisingly would leave out any mention of drugs.¹¹

A Drug Dealer’s Shadow

Marianne Faithful, stated that sometime in the early morning hours of July 3rd, she was in bed with Jean de Breteuil when the telephone rang. It was Courson informing her boyfriend of an emergency situation at her apartment. (We can only speculate that she told him that Morrison had overdosed on his heroin.)

de Breteuil had been selling uncut “Chinese” heroin to both Courson and Faithfull while in Paris.¹²

de Bruitiuel left in a rush for Morrison’s apartment where he had been many times before. His presence at Morrison’s apartment is confirmed by Ronay who spoke briefly to him.

de Bruitiuel said to Ronay upon seeing him, “I know everything.”

Faithful then recounts that when de Breteuil returned to their room he was frightened and told her they were leaving Paris immediately for the family residence in Morocco.

de Breteuil considered his family home in Marrakesh, Morocco to be safe from foreign authorities because of his family’s connections to the Moroccan diplomatic corps.

As Marianne Faithful put it “Jean saw himself as dealer to the stars. Now he was a small-time heroin dealer in big trouble.” ¹³

The Medical Examiner Report

The police inspector at the scene was suspicious that Morrison had died of a drug overdose. Young men just don’t drop dead.

Agnes Varda had arranged for her personal doctor come to the apartment and examine the body. He refused to sign a certificate of natural death that was needed to bury a body.

The police demanded an official medical examiner come to the apartment. Sometime in the afternoon a medical examiner came and questioned Pam Courson.

Courson told the same basic story that she had told to the medical examiner without any mention of drugs. She noted that Morrison had problems breathing and had recently seen a doctor who diagnosed asthma.

The medical examiner’s report was brief simply saying Morrison died of a heart attack caused by the hot bathwater with related causes being “precordial pain”¹⁴ and “exertional dyspnea” (shortness of breath) aggravated by alcohol.¹⁵

The bathwater killed him.

The medical examiner signed the certificate of natural death which obviated the requirement of an official autopsy. The police inspector was outraged.

And so Jim Morrison, whose hit album “L.A. Woman” was climbing the charts and would soon become the Doors sixth consecutive gold album, was quietly buried a few days later unknown to the public.

China White Meets Jim Morrison

There were whispers among the bohemian crowd of the Paris club scene during the summer of ’71 that a powerhouse brand of Asian heroin, was on the streets of Paris. ¹⁶ It was called “cotton candy” by some and had a subtle pinkish hue. ¹⁷

Indeed. The era of Turkish opium and morphine that had fueled the Marseille heroin labs was nearing an end by 1971. Now a new mysterious smack was haunting the clubs of Paris – China White from the Far East.

The Corsican Mafia, who ran the Marseille refineries, was now smuggling both China White heroin and crude morphine from the Golden Triangle into France as a replacement to their Turkish pipeline. ¹⁸

The Corsican Mafia and The Golden Triangle: A Quick History Lesson

The French have been involved in the Southeast Asian opium trade since the 1850’s. They legalized the consumption of opium and sold it legally through their colonial state of French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia).

After World War II, the French retook control of Vietnam and used opium as a commodity to earn the money needed to arm the pro-French regime that was fighting against Ho Chi Minh and his anti-imperialist movement during the First Indochina War (1946-1954).

The French called their secret opium for guns sleight of hand Operation X.¹⁹

The Corsican Mafia had tagged along with the French retaking of Vietnam and set up many rackets in Saigon starting in 1946.

After the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, they left Vietnam and the Americans took over. The Corsican Mafia stayed and began smuggling opium from Laos into the heroin refineries of Saigon.

The Corsican Mafia had long foresaw the problems that would face their Marseille heroin labs. The problems were two-fold: The continued supply of Turkish opium or morphine, and the security of their labs from the police.

The Golden Triangle offered an easy solution to both problems.

The Corsican Mafia began sending an ever increasing supply of crude morphine to its Marseille labs for refinement into heroin beginning in the 1960s. Turkey was no longer the only source for the raw ingredient necessary in making heroin.

The second problem, the growing police crackdown on their labs in Marseille, was easily solved. The heroin refineries in the Golden Triangle were safe from any government crack down.

Why take the trouble to operate sophisticated heroin labs and source morphine or opium fraught with logistical problems when you can simply purchase pure heroin from the Golden Triangle and make a steady, secure profit.

The Corsican Mafia had a complete alternative to their Marseille refineries. The French Connection was about to expire.

The Golden Triangle And China White

“China White” is slang for #4 grade heroin (95-98% purity) made in the Golden Triangle. It is usually packaged and sold under the brand name of Double UO Globe Brand

China White first appeared around 1969-1970. It was the perfect retail drug for the huge presence of US soldiers in Vietnam.

The origins of China White are easy to trace. In the 1950’s – 60’s, Hong Kong imported Golden Triangle opium to its scads of heroin refineries. When the police cracked down, the Chinese gangs who controlled the refineries (Triads) moved their operations to the safety of the Golden Triangle.

The Hong Kong Triads provided the lab equipment, precursor chemicals needed to make heroin, and most importantly the skilled lab technicians who could produce #4 heroin without blowing up the lab or themselves.

Paris and China White

The China White blizzard in Paris was so blinding that the French police in April, 1971 found 60 kilos of pure Golden Triangle heroin in the luggage of the newly appointed Laotian Ambassador to France, Prince Sopsaisana. ²⁰

By 1971, the Corsican Mafia and Chinese related smugglers were flooding France with high powered Golden Triangle heroin. Much of it coming in through the port of Marseille which the Corsicans controlled.

And it wasn’t just #4 grade China White heroin. #3 grade Golden Triangle heroin was also being smuggled. #3 grade heroin is heroin hydrochloride and it’s purity can vary from approximately 70%-80%.

Either one #3 or #4 heroin is easily powerful enough to kill by overdose. Even cut at 50%, these grades of heroin are far more powerful than users expect.

Connecting The Dots

Did Jim Morrison die of a heroin overdose?

The established facts are overwhelming that he did.

• Pam Courson admits to Ronay very shortly after Morrison’s death that she and Morrison snorted heroin multiple times just prior to his death.
• Morrison was struggling to breathe after heroin ingestion. A common symptom of heroin overdose.
• Morrison had to be slapped to revive him from an unconscious state. A common symptom of heroin overdose.
• Morrison vomits. Nausea is a common symptom of heroin overdose.
• Evidence indicates that Morrison snorted heroin with a high purity.
• Morrison was drinking on the night in question. Alcohol, like heroin, is a central nervous system depressant, and acts in tandem with heroin to suppress cardiopulmonary functions.
• Morrison suffered from asthma and shortness of breath which can aggravate heroin’s suppression of the respiratory system.
• Jim Morrison was an infrequent user of heroin. His threshold for an overdose would be low. This explains why he overdosed and not Courson who was addicted to heroin.

Did Jim Morrison ingest “China White” from the Golden Triangle?

• “China White” was prevalent on the streets of Paris in the summer, 1971.
• Marianne Faithful specifically says that her boyfriend was dealing a potent heroin from the Far East, “Pink Cotton Candy” in the summer of 1971. There is only one heroin from the Far East and that is Golden Triangle heroin which goes by slang “China White”.
• Investigative journalist Ed Sanders specifically calls the heroin that Morrison took that night “Chinese Heroin”. Chinese heroin is Golden Triangle heroin.
• In 1971, the Corsican Mafia was shipping Golden Triangle heroin to France.
• In 1971, Laotian officials were smuggling pure heroin into Paris, France. [See: Laotian designated Ambassador to France had 60 kilos of pure heroin in his luggage]
• In 1971, the Marseille heroin refineries were fading in dominance which opened the door to Golden Triangle heroin.

Requiem for a Rock Star

The grave of Jim Morrison in Paris, France.

Proving Jim Morrison’s death beyond a shadow of a doubt would include an autopsy that never occurred.

Proving beyond a shadow of doubt the specific type of heroin he took would necessitate a chemical analysis of the heroin he snorted with an analysis of Golden Triangle heroin.

Neither will ever happen.

But the writing on the wall is clear.

The death of Jim Morrison was in all likelihood the result of China White, a seductress too many have succumbed to. Somewhere in the wild mountains of the Golden Triangle, an opium poppy grew with Jim Morrison’s name on it.

In a court of law, relying on the existing evidence, the Golden Triangle heroin trade would be found responsible for the death of Jim Morrison.

Jim Morrison’s death in 1971 ushered in a wave of heroin overdoses throughout Europe and especially New York City all resulting from the same heroin from the same place-the Golden Triangle and its “China White”.

1. Ed Sanders, “The Final Times of Jim Morrison” (2011) Sanders specifically states Jim ingested Chinese heroin, which is “China White”; See also: Jordan Runtagh, “Did This French Aristocrat Hava a Hand in the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Other ’60s Icons”, People Magazine (July 16, 2021) This article references an “especially potent variety of heroin from the Far East”
2. Crude morphine is extracted from opium and is called morphine base. Heroin is made from morphine base.
3. The Crisis Group Asia Report, “Fire and Ice: Conflict and Drugs in Myanmar’s Shan State” (Jan. 2019)
4. L.A. Weekly, “The 20 Best Songs Ever Written about L.A.” (Oct. 15, 2014) The Door’s “L.A. Woman” named best song ever about Los Angeles.
5. Mercy Fontenot, Lyndsey Parker, “Permanent Damage: Memoirs of an Outrageous Girl”, Rare Bird Books (2021)
6. Jordan Runtagh, “Did This French Aristocrat Have a Hand in the /deaths of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Other ’60s Icons?” People Magazine (July 16, 2021)
7. See her IMBd profile and filmography here
8. There is only one Far East heroin and that’s Golden Triangle heroin. “Cotton Candy” is a common slang term for heroin.
9. The pink hue is probably related to the high purity level. In the 1980’s, the Golden Triangle would produce heroin of different colors, but in 1971 color-coded heroin did not exist.
10. Alain Ronay, “Jim & I – Friends Until Death“, King and I (1991)
11. Max Vassille, Medical Examiner, “Medical Legal Report [re: James Morrison]”, Paris, France (July 3, 1971)
12. Ed Sanders, supra.
13. supra. People Magazine article.
14. Precordial pain, also called “precordial catch syndrome” is a nonfatal pain in the chest that can be caused by many factors. See: Cleveland Clinic, “Precordial Catch Syndrome“
15. Vassille, Medical Examiner Report, supra.
16. Lydia Hutchinson, “The Mysterious Death of Jim Morrison“, quoting Danny Sugarman, Doors insider., Performing Song Writer (July 8, 2015) This article specifically mentions “China White” as the heroin circulating on the streets of Paris.
17. Jordan Runtagh, “Did This French Aristocrat Have a Hand in the Deaths of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Other ’60s Icons?” People Magazine (July 16, 2021)
18. Foriegn Operations Sub-committee of the Appropriations Committee, U.S. Senate, Testimony of Alfred W. McCoy (June 2, 1972).
19. Christian C. Lentz, “Cultivating Subjects: Opium and rule in post-colonial Vietnam”, Cambridge University Press (June 22, 2017)
20. Alfred McCoy and Kathleen Reed, “The CIA and the Heroin Trade“, The Bulletin (Sept. 23, 1972); See also: Harry Kamm, “Asians Doubt US Can Halt Heroin Flow“, New York Times (Aug. 11, 1971)