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BKK POST: Burma must face the drug
- Subject: BKK POST: Burma must face the drug
- From: suriya@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 24 Apr 1998 00:32:00
April 24, 1998
Editorial
Burma must face
the drug reality
Burma is the largest producer of heroin and opium in the world.
The United Nations has criticised unchecked drug trafficking in
Burma.
Membership in Asean has had little effect on production of
opium or shipments of heroin and amphetamines. Burmese
authorities may not understand the extent of their problems.
The making and trafficking of drugs in Burma has long been a
major headache for Thailand and other neighbours. To its vast
opium fields and its system of heroin factories have recently been
added networks of amphetamine makers and dealers. The many
tentacles of drug manufacturing and smuggling have caused
immense difficulties on our side of the border. These range from
increased addiction of Thais to drugs, through criminal
enterprises that have done major harm to our economy.
Now it must be asked whether Burma is even aware of the
problems it faces at home from drugs, and the burdens it places
on its neighbours.
In the first few months of this year, Burma has appeared to
cooperate in a number of anti-drug initiatives. These have
occurred both at home and in Rangoon's diplomatic dealings.
But its statements and reactions have so often been at odds with
the known and obvious facts that one must wonder if Burmese
authorities are aware of what is going on under their noses.
Early in the year, Burma and the United States cooperated in a
survey of the Burmese opium fields. The six-day inspection
covered all the country's major and minor poppy-growing areas.
Officials found what they have found for the past decade Ñ the
opium fields continue to grow in scope and size. The on-site
inspections, combined with satellite photos from the US, the
United Nations and elsewhere, found opium flourishing as ever.
The crop estimate was 2,500 tonnes of opium.
Rangoon wasn't buying this international estimate. Even though
Burmese officials led the fourth annual on-site inspections with
the Americans, Rangoon simply wonÕt accept its result. The
crop size and acreage are both over-estimated by the
international experts, say Burmese officials.
The United Nations reports that 300,000 hectares has been
under opium cultivation in Burma in the 10 years since 1988,
producing at least 2,000 tonnes of opium annually. Burma claims
that 9,630.9 hectares is under poppies, yielding 106 tonnes of
opium.
The question is whether Rangoon is dissembling or deluding
itself. The official Burmese reports, such as this one, are so silly
that they are simply unbelievable. Take the acreage of poppies
Burma claims. Any opium farmer could tell authorities that the
crop yield would be less than 10 tonnes Ñ not the 106 tonnes
Rangoon claims Ñ since poppies yield less than 10 kg of opium
per hectare on average.
Computer operators coined a phrase many years ago that seems
applicable here: garbage in, garbage out. If Rangoon is mistaken
or lying to itself about the opium crop, it cannot conduct effective
operations to reduce and eliminate the flow of narcotics. If
Rangoon attempts to design a crop-replacement programme that
assumes less than 10,000 hectares of cropland, then the
anti-opium campaign will fail.
This is a crucial matter to Burma, its neighbours including
Thailand, and the world community. The United Nations, which
is funded by taxpayers worldwide, is about to embark on a
major anti-drug programme in Burma. The centrepiece is a
crop-replacement programme for Burma's exploited opium
farmers.
The UN programme will mark the first major cooperation by
Burma with the international community against drug trafficking.
It is Rangoon's opportunity to show that it means what it says
about helping Burma's neighbours with their narcotics problems.
But it must be informed and realistic to succeed. If Burma
continues to delude itself about the scope of the problem it faces,
there is no chance it can help either its own people or others.
© The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. All rights reserved 1998
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Last Modified: Fri, Apr 24, 1998