Burma: opium and heroin
Individual Documents
Description:
''The problem of opium should not be perceived only as a simple, black-and-white, law enforcement problem. To address problems related to opium cultivation, substantial socio-economic development is required to provide meaningful alternatives for farmers, and to ensure that a humanitarian crisis will not occur as the consequence of repressive drug control policies.Why do farmers grow opium?
This simple question requires a comprehensive and long explanation. First, we need to understand all those factors that push farmers in remote, mountainous villages to rely on income derived from opium-growing to support their families’ basic needs, health care and education for their kids.
The cultivation of opium as a cash crop seems to have entered what is present-day Myanmar from the north. Although there is no written record of how and when opium was introduced into the country, it is generally accepted that cultivation spread from the neighboring Chinese provinces. The “Opium Wars” in China (1839 – 1842) not only increased the opium demand in Chinese coastal towns, but also escalated its production in highland territories, such as Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces in China, and the adjacent Shan and Kachin States of Myanmar. By 1898, opium had become “almost the standard medium of exchange in trade” in southern Yunnan and Upper Myanmar...''
Sai Lone
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2018-12-17
Date of entry/update:
2019-01-04
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
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Description:
"Current drug control polices in South-east Asia are repressive and criminalise opium farmers, greatly affecting the lives of communities cultivating opium. Most policy responses ? including from some armed opposition groups ? focus on eradication of poppy fields and the implementation of strict bans on opium cultivation...
Projects:
Myanmar in Focus, UN Drug Control, Drugs & Democracy
The Third Myanmar Opium Farmers? Forum was held in September 2015 in Pyin Oo Lwin, Myanmar. It brought together around 30 representatives of local communities involved in poppy cultivation in Myanmar?s major opium growing regions: Chin State, Kachin State, northern and southern Shan State and Kayah State. Farmers and community representatives from Chin, Kachin, Kayah, Kayan, Pa-O, Shan and Ta-ang (Palaung) ethnic communities took part in the forum.
Current drug control polices in South-east Asia are repressive and criminalise opium farmers, greatly affecting the lives of communities cultivating opium. Most policy responses ? including from some armed opposition groups ? focus on eradication of poppy fields and the implementation of strict bans on opium cultivation. As these communities depend on opium as a cash crop to solve immediate food security problems and sustain their livelihoods, such repressive policies are driving communities further into poverty. Currently only very few Alternative Development (AD) programmes are offered to opium-growing communities to address these problems. Furthermore, opium cultivation often takes place in conflict-affected areas, and links between drugs and conflict affect local communities.
Until now these communities have had little or no influence on the design of the drug control policies that have great impact on their lives and livelihoods. They have also had little participation in the design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of AD programmes that are supposed to help them. The forum?s aim was to identify the main concerns of opium farmers, and formulate alternative policy options that respect the rights of producer communities and involve them in the decision-making processes. To this end the forum adopted a statement with recommendations to policy makers nationally and internationally.
The meeting was held under Chatham House rules because of the sensitivity of the subject, and the names and places of origin of the participants remain confidential. This report reflects participants? views and captures the main conclusions and recommendations that emerged from the forum...
Conclusion:
At the end of the forum the farmers issued a statement with recommendations to policy makers nationally and internationally. The forum also agreed on follow-up activities that would help draw attention to the challenges they face."
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2015-12-14
Date of entry/update:
2015-12-14
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
133.3 KB
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Description:
"On 11 and 12 September 2015 opium farmers and representatives of opium farming communities from Kayah State, Shan State, Kachin State and Chin State, came together in Upper Myanmar to discuss the drug policies affecting their lives. Following from the discussions the farmers issued a statement with recommendations to policy makers nationally and internationally."
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2015-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format :
pdf
Size:
52.04 KB
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Description:
"On 11 and 12 September 2015 opium farmers and representatives of opium farming communities from Kayah State, Shan State, Kachin State and Chin State, came together in Upper Myanmar to discuss the drug policies affecting their lives. Following from the discussions the farmers issued a statement with recommendations to policy makers nationally and internationally."
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2015-09-12
Date of entry/update:
2015-09-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
34.9 KB
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Description:
"China?s jade obsession drives a multi-billion dollar black market that fuels a drug-infested jade mining industry....Gold is valuable but jade is priceless, so goes a Chinese saying. For centuries, the Chinese consider jade an imperial stone with mystical properties. Today it is coveted all over China as a status symbol, a collectible and an investment.
Demand from increasingly wealthy Chinese drives the value of jade through the roof. At this year?s Shanghai World Jewellery Expo, auctioneers put the opening bid for top grade jade items at more than $160 a gram, exceeding four times the price of gold.
Intricately designed pieces, made from top grade jade known as jadeite, are viewed as attractive investments despite the lack of scientific valuation methods. In recent years, jadeite has provided better returns than real estate.
But the imperial stone delivers a death sentence to treasure hunters in Myanmar, where China?s jadeite comes from.
Most of Myanmar?s raw jade enters a murky black market. Its official revenue from jade exports over from 2011 to 2014 was $1.3bn. But Harvard University?s Ash Center estimates total jade sales - including through unofficial channels - were $8bn in 2011 alone, suggesting most of the revenue does not go into government coffers.
The Myanmar government will not speak to us on camera. But our investigations reveal a corrupt senior government official who works with businessmen in the illegal trade of raw jade, including helping to falsify tax documents.
In northern Kachin state, we follow jade smugglers to the remote Hpakant mining town, the source of the world?s best jade. The men are part of the government?s border guard force. The officer in charge tells us how he pays off army and police commanders along the smuggling trail to China..."
Chan Tao Chou
Source/publisher:
Aljazeera (101 East)
Date of publication:
2014-11-28
Date of entry/update:
2014-11-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Gems - mining and trade, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
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Description:
"Northern Burma?s borderlands have undergone dramatic changes in the last two decades. Three main and
interconnected developments are simultaneously taking place in Shan State and Kachin State: (1) the increase
in opium cultivation in Burma since 2006 after a decade of steady decline; (2) the increase at about the same
time in Chinese agricultural investments in northern Burma under China?s opium substitution programme,
especially in rubber; and (3) the related increase in dispossession of local communities? land and livelihoods
in Burma?s northern borderlands.
The vast majority of the opium and heroin on the Chinese market originates from northern Burma. Apart
from attempting to address domestic consumption problems, the Chinese government also has created a
poppy substitution development programme, and has been actively promoting Chinese companies to take
part, offering subsidies, tax waivers, and import quotas for Chinese companies. The main benefits of these
programmes do not go to (ex-)poppy growing communities, but to Chinese businessmen and local authorities,
and have further marginalised these communities.
Serious concerns arise regarding the long-term economic benefits and costs of agricultural development—
mostly rubber—for poor upland villagers. Economic benefits derived from rubber development are very
limited. Without access to capital and land to invest in rubber concessions, upland farmers practicing swidden
cultivation (many of whom are (ex-) poppy growers) are left with few alternatives but to try to get work as
wage labourers on the agricultural concessions.
Land tenure and other related resource management issues are vital ingredients for local communities to
build licit and sustainable livelihoods. Investment-induced land dispossession has wide implications for drug
production and trade, as well as border stability. Investments related to opium substitution should be carried
out in a more sustainable, transparent, accountable and equitable fashion. Customary land rights and institutions
should be respected. Chinese investors should use a smallholder plantation model instead of confiscating
farmers land as a concession. Labourers from the local population should be hired rather than outside
migrants in order to funnel economic benefits into nearby communities.
China?s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease
reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Chinese authorities
need to reconsider their regional development strategies of implementation in order to avoid further border
conflict and growing antagonism from Burmese society. Financing dispossession is not development."
Tom Kramer & Kevin Woods
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2012-02-00
Date of entry/update:
2012-02-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Agricultural land confiscation/grabbing, Drug bans and poppy crop substitution, Tenure insecurity in Burma (including land grabbing), Burma: opium and heroin, TNI-BCN Project on Ethnic Conflict in Burma
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
2.67 MB
Local URL:
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Description:
"...Opium Poppy Cultivation:
In 2011, for the fifth year in a row, opium poppy cultivation increased in Myanmar. The total area
under opium poppy cultivation was estimated at 43,600 ha, an increase of 14% compared to 2010
(38,100 ha). This upward trend started in 2007 after six years of decline between 2001 and 2006.
Shan State accounted now for 91% of opium production in Myanmar, while the largest increase in
poppy cultivation was observed in Kachin State (+27%). In Shan State most of the increase in the
area cultivated took place in South Shan (+21%) followed by North Shan (+17%). There was no
significant change in East Shan (+1%)...Opium yield and production
In 2011, the national average opium yield was estimated at 14.0 kg per hectare, which represents a
decrease of 8% compared to last year?s yield. Nevertheless, the larger area under cultivation
resulted in an increase in total opium production of 5%, from 580 mt in 2010 to 610 mt in 2011...
Opium prices:
Opium prices in Myanmar have significantly increased in 2011. The average farm-gate price of
opium (weighted by the estimated area under cultivation) was US$ 450/kg in 2011, up some 48%
from US$ 305/kg in 2010. Opium prices have continued to increase since 2002. The most recent
increase can be explained by the strong demand in opium from neighbouring countries as well as
the depreciation of the Kyat against the US$ (by some 14% over the past year)...
Household income from opium:
The average annual cash income of opium-producing households increased by almost 24% in the
Shan State, from US$ 830 in 2010 to US$ 1,030 in 2011. However, opium farmers in Myanmar
generally remain poorer than non-opium growing farmers. For non-opium cultivating households
(including those that never cultivated or have stopped opium poppy cultivation), the average
annual cash income was almost US$ 1,200. On average, income from opium accounts for 54% of
total cash income among poppy-growing farmers and in South Shan even more than 60%. For
Myanmar opium survey 2011
44
these farmers, opium cultivation is the principal income to survive, which is illustrated by the
comments of farmers that had stopped cultivating opium and had to purchase food on credit or
borrow food and rely on relatives and friends...
Addiction:
Data on opium and other drug addiction was collected via interviews with village headmen.
Headmen were asked about the number of daily opium users and the number of ?regular? users of
other drugs (without specifying frequency of use). According to the headmen, daily opium use in
Shan State and in Kachin affects 0.8% of the population aged 15 years and above. As in previous
years, the prevalence rate was higher in opium-growing villages (1.3%) than in non-opiumgrowing
villages (0.4%). Although the number of amphetamine type stimulant (ATS) users is
increasing, the prevalence rate remained very low, at 0.2% of the population in opium-growing
areas which is almost the same ratio as last year. Heroin use is also reported to be very low,
affecting less than 0.1% of the population aged 15 and above. However, information on drug use
must be interpreted with caution, as respondents may have been reluctant to report opium, heroin
and ATS consumption in the context of the Government?s efforts to curb drug use and addiction...
Reported Eradication:
This survey did not monitor or validate the results of the eradication campaign carried out by the
Government of Myanmar (GOUM). According to the GOUM, a total of 7,058 ha were eradicated
in the 2010-2011 opium season, which is 15% less the area eradicated in 2009-2010. Most of the
eradication continued to take place in Shan State (85% of the total), notably in South Shan (51%).
44% of the eradication concentrated in three townships in the southern part of South Shan, namely
Pinlaung, Pekong and Sisaing townships...
Food security and coping strategies:
Food security remains a major problem in almost all regions where the survey took place for both
poppy-growing and non-poppy-growing villages. The erosion of food security is of particular
concern because it could trigger a further increase in opium cultivation. In order to meet their food
deficit, households across all regions most frequently sought assistance from friends and/or took
loans to buy food.
The high (and rising) price of opium in Myanmar is making opium production more attractive. In
fact, as a proportion of total income, opium income has increased among opium growing farmers.
Among opium growing farmers, the proportion of total household income derived from opium
production is also now increasing. Between 2003 and 2009, the income generated by opium was a
declining proportion of opium-growing farmers? total cash income falling (from 70% to about
20% during the period). However, in 2010, this trend reversed and the proportion of total cash
income coming from opium is now 54%. With the cultivation of one hectare of opium farmers
earned 9 times more than from rice cultivation in low lands, and 15 times more than rice cultivated
in uplands. This makes it more difficult to convince farmers to abandon opium and switch to other
crops. Nonetheless, this survey provides important information to help design and target
alternative livelihood-programmes..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2011-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2011-12-21
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
1.61 MB 4.81 MB
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Description:
Summary:
"Almost one year after Burma?s long-awaited elections were held in November
2010, Palaung communities in northern Shan State are suffering from the
effects of an even greater upsurge in opium cultivation than in previous years.
Local paramilitary leaders, some now elected into Burma?s new parliament,
are being allowed to cultivate and profi t from drugs in return for helping the
regime suppress ethnic resistance forces in Burma?s escalating civil war. As a
result, drug addiction has escalated in the Palaung area, tearing apart families
and communities. Burma?s drug problems are set to worsen unless there is
genuine political reform that addresses the political aspirations of Burma?s
ethnic minority groups.
Research carried out by Palaung Women?s Organisation in Namkham
Township shows that:
???? Opium cultivation across 15 villages in Namkham Township has increased
by a staggering 78.58% within two years.
???? 12 villages in the same area, which had not previously grown opium, have
started to grow opium since 2009.
???? A signifi cant number of these villages are under the control of government
paramilitary ?anti-insurgency? forces, which are directly profi ting from
the opium trade.
???? The most prominent militia leader and druglord in the area, ?Pansay?
Kyaw Myint, from the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development
Party, was elected as an MP for Namkham in November 2010; he promised
voters that they could grow opium freely for 5 years if they voted for him.
???? Government troops, police and militia continue to openly tax opium
farmers, and to collect bribes from drug addicts in exchange for their
release from custody.
???? Drug addiction in Palaung communities has spiralled out of control. In
one Palaung village, PWO found that 91% of males aged 15 and over were
addicted to drugs. Drug addiction is causing huge problems for families,
with women and children bearing the burden of increased poverty, crime
and violence."
Source/publisher:
Palaung Women?s Organization (PWO)
Date of publication:
2011-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2011-10-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs in Shan State, The human impact of drugs and drug policies in Burma, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English, Burmese
Format :
pdf pdf pdf
Size:
417.31 KB 68.49 KB 85.42 KB
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Description:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"The Government of the Union of Myanmar (GOUM) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) jointly conducted the 2010 Opium Survey in Myanmar. Through satellite
imagery and village and field surveys, information was gathered to determine the extent of opium
poppy cultivation and production, as well as the socio-economic status of farmers.
While current levels of opium cultivation remain below the alarming levels of the mid-90s and
increases measured in the last three years are still modest, there are two worrying changes:
farmers? incomes remain distressingly low and food security has worsened. Given the high price
of opium in Myanmar, this situation makes the growing of opium more attractive. In fact, as a
proportion of total income, opium income has increased among opium growing farmers. Between
2003 and 2009, the income generated by opium had a diminishing impact on opium-growing
farmers? total cash income (i.e. the proportion of their income that came from opium fell from
70% to about 20%). In 2010, this trend reversed. Opium poppy is now by far the most lucrative
crop for farmers that illicitly cultivate it. With the cultivation of one hectare of opium earning 6.5
times more than that earned from rice cultivation in low lands, and 13 times more than rice
cultivated in uplands, the income proportion from opium increased to more than 43%. This makes
it difficult to convince farmers to abandon opium and switch to other crops. Nonetheless, this
survey provides important information to target alternative livelihood programmes and identifies
what crops farmers would be willing to cultivate instead of opium.
Opium farmers in Myanmar remain poorer than non-opium farmers. The great majority of farmers
who cultivate opium do so to buy food. For them, opium cultivation remains a subsistence
exercise. Tellingly, many farmers who stopped cultivating opium, had to purchase food on credit
or borrow food and rely on relatives and friends.
The pattern of opium poppy cultivation is also changing: some areas became opium-free while
others increased their level of cultivation. In South Shan State, farmers introduced new practices
such as multi-cropping. Generally, opium fields moved further away from villages and, in certain
regions, were subject to eradication. In addition, cultivation shifted to areas previously considered
opium-free or to climatically less favourable regions. All these considerations, combined with
reduced accessibility and the expected change in cropping pattern, influenced the 2010 survey
methodology..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2010-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-12-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
Size:
3.71 MB
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Description:
Conclusions & Recommendations:
• The huge increase in Chinese agricultural
concessions in Burma and Laos is driven by
China?s opium crop substitution programme,
offering subsidies and tax waivers
for Chinese companies.
• China?s focus is on integrating the local
economy of the border regions of Burma and
Laos into the regional market through bilateral
relations with government and military
authorities across the border.
• In Burma large-scale rubber concessions is
the only method operating. Initially informal
smallholder arrangements were the dominant
form of cultivation in Laos, but the topdown
coercive model is gaining prevalence.
• The poorest of the poor, including many
(ex-) poppy farmers, benefit least from these
investments. They are losing access to land
and forest, being forcibly relocated to the
lowlands, left with few viable options for
survival.
• New forms of conflict are arising from
Chinese large-scale investments abroad. Related
land dispossession has wide implications
on drug production and trade, as well
as border stability.
• Investments related to opium substitution
plans should be carried out in a more sustainable,
transparent, accountable and equitable
fashion with a community-based approach.
They should respect traditional land
rights and communities? customs.
Rob Cramb, Vongpaphane Manivong, Jonathan Newby, Kem Sothorn, Patrick Sujang
Source/publisher:
Transnational InstituteDrug (Policy Briefing No. 33)
Date of publication:
2010-11-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-11-15
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drug bans and poppy crop substitution, Burma: opium and heroin, Contract farming, Contract farming
Language:
English
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Description:
Singapore?s economic linkage with Burma is one of the most vital factors for the survival of Burma?s military regime," says Professor Mya Maung, a Burmese economist based in Boston. This link, he continues, is also central to "the expansion of the heroin trade.") Singapore has achieved the distinction of being the Burmese junta?s number one business partner -both largest trading partner and largest foreign investor. More than half these investments, totaling upwards of $1.3 billion, are in partnership with Burma?s infamous heroin kingpin Lo Hsing Han, who now controls a substantial portion of the world?s opium trade. The close political, economic, and military relationship between the two countries facilitates the weaving of millions of narco-dollars into the legitimate world economy
Singapore has also become a major player in Asian commerce. According to Steven Green, llS Ambassador to Singapore, that city-states free market policies have "allowed this small country to develop one of the world?s most successful trading and investment economies." Singapore also has a strong role in the powerful 132-member country World Trade Organization. Indeed, the tiny China Sea island of three and a half million people is known far and wide as the blue chip of the region-a financial trading base and a route for the vast sums of money that flow in and out of Asia.
Leslie Kean, Dennis Bernstein
Source/publisher:
Third World Traveler
Date of publication:
1998-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-09-28
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Singapore-Burma relations, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
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Description:
"...Opium farmers in Afghanistan and Burma are
coming under huge pressure as local authorities
implement bans on the cultivation of poppy.
Banning opium has an immediate and profound
impact on the livelihoods of more than 4 million
people.These bans are a response to pressure
from the international community. Afghan and
Burmese authorities alike are urging the
international community to accompany their
pressure with substantial aid.
For political reasons, levels of humanitarian
and alternative development aid are very
different between the two countries. The
international community has pledged several
hundred millions for rural development in
poppy growing regions in Afghanistan. In sharp
contrast, pledged support that could soften the
crisis in poppy regions in Burma is less than $15
million, leaving an urgent shortfall.
Opium growing regions in both countries will
enter a downward spiral of poverty because of
the ban.The reversed sequencing of first forcing
farmers out of poppy cultivation before
ensuring other income opportunities is a grave
mistake.Aggressive drug control efforts against
farmers and small-scale opium traders, and
forced eradication operations in particular, also
have a negative impact on prospects for peace
and democracy in both countries.
In neither Afghanistan nor Burma have farmers
had any say at all in these policies from which
they stand to suffer most. It is vital that local
communities and organisations that represent
them are given a voice in the decision-making
process that has such a tremendous impact on
their livelihoods..."
Source/publisher:
Transnational Institute (TNI)
Date of publication:
2005-06-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs and conflict, Burma: opium and heroin, Drug bans and poppy crop substitution, TNI-BCN Project on Ethnic Conflict in Burma
Language:
English
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Title: From Golden Triangle to Rubber Belt ? - The Future of Opium Bans in the Kokang and Wa Regions
Description:
"In the Kokang and Wa regions in northern Burma opium bans have ended over a century of poppy cultivation. The bans have had dramatic consequences for local communities. They depended on opium as a cash crop, to buy food, clothing, and medicines. The bans have driven poppy-growing communities into chronic poverty and have adversely affected their food security. Very few alternatives are being offered to households for their survival...
Conclusions & Recommendations:
• The opium bans have driven communities into chronic poverty and have adversely affected their food security and access to health care and education. • The Kokang and Wa authorities have promoted Chinese investment in mono-plantations, especially in rubber. These projects are unsustainable and do not significantly profit the population. • Ex-poppy farmers mainly rely on casual labour and collecting Non-Timber Forest Products as alternative source of income. • Current interventions by international NGOs and UN agencies are still limited in scale and can best be described as ?emer-gency responses”. • If the many challenges to achieving viable legal livelihoods in the Kokang and Wa regions are not addressed, the reductions in opium cultivation are unlikely to be sustainable.
The Kokang and Wa cease-fire groups have implemented these bans following international pressure, especially from neighbouring China. In return, they hope to gain international political recognition and aid to develop their impoverished and war-torn regions. The Kokang and Wa authorities have been unable to provide alternative sources of income for ex-poppy farmers. Instead they have promoted Chinese invest-ment in monoplantations, especially in rubber. These projects have created many undesired effects and do not significantly profit the population.
The Burmese military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has also been unwilling and unable to provide assistance. The international community has provided emergency aid through inter-national NGOs and UN agencies. However, current levels of support are insufficient, and need to be upgraded in order to provide sustainable alternatives for the population. The international community should not abandon former opium-growing communities in the Kokang and Wa regions at this critical time..."
Tom Kramer
Source/publisher:
Transnational Insititute (Drug Policy Briefing Nr 29)
Date of publication:
2009-07-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs in Shan State, Drug bans and poppy crop substitution, The humanitarian impact of opium bans, Food Security in Burma/Myanmar - web searches, specialised groups, reports and statistics, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
pdf
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217.33 KB
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Description:
Based on Ronald Renard?s "The Burma Connection" UNRISD 1996
Ronald Renard
Source/publisher:
The Global Hangover Guide
Date of publication:
1996-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs and Burma: general links, reports and articles, Burma: drug production and trafficking, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
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Description:
The classic 1972 study, subsequenstly updated and expanded in McCoy?s "The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug Trade" (NY 1991).
Alfred W. McCoy
Source/publisher:
Drugtext.org
Date of publication:
1972-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-08-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
"...In 2008, the total area under opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar is estimated at 28,500 hectares,
representing an increase of 3 per cent from 27, 700 hectares in 2007. Opium poppy cultivation is
concentrated, primarily, in Shan State, where 89 per cent of the total opium poppy was grown. The
weighted national average opium yield for 2008 is estimated at 14.4 kilograms per hectare, leading
to an estimated potential opium production of 410 metric tones. Compared to the estimated yield
of 16.6 per cent and the estimated potential opium production of 460 metric tones in 2007, the
estimates this year indicate a drop both in the yield and production of opium by 13 and 11 per
cent, respectively..."
Source/publisher:
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2008-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2010-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
Executive Summary: Community assessments by the Palaung Women's Organisation during the past two years reveal that the amount of opium being cultivated in Burma's northern Shan State has been increasing dramatically. The amounts are far higher than reported in the annual opium surveys of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and are flourishing not in "insurgent and ceasefire areas," as claimed by the UN, but in areas controlled by Burma's military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Between 2007-2009, PWO conducted field surveys in Namkham and Mantong townships, and found that the total area of opium cultivated increased almost fivefold over three years from 964 hectares in the 2006-7 season to 4,545 hectares in the 2008-9 season. Namkham and Mantong are both fully under the control of the SPDC. The areas have an extensive security infrastructure including Burma Army battalions, police, and pro-government village militia. These militia are allowed to engage in illicit income-generating activities in exchange for policing against resistance activity, and are being expanded in the lead up to the regime's planned 2010 elections. Local authorities, in "anti-drug teams" formed by the police in each township, have been systematically extorting fees from villagers in exchange for allowing them to grow opium. During the 2007-8 season in Mantong township, at least 37 million kyat (US$37,000) in bribes in total were collected from 28 villages. PWO data shows that the "anti-drug teams" are leaving the majority of opium fields intact, and are filing false eradication data to the police headquarters. PWO found that only 11% of the poppy fields during the 2008-9 season had been destroyed, mostly only in easily visible places. The fact that authorities are profiting from drug production is enabling drug abuse to flourish. In one village surveyed in Mantong, it was found that that the percentage of men aged 15 and over addicted to opium increased from 57% in 2007 to 85% in 2009. Around the town of Namkham, heroin addicts flock openly to "drug camps," and dealers sell heroin and amphetamines from their houses. PWO's findings thus highlight the structural issues underlying the drug problem in Burma. The regime is pursuing a strategy of increased militarization in the ethnic states to crush ethnic resistance movements, instead of entering into political negotiations with them. For this, it needs an ever growing security apparatus, which in turn is subsidized by the drug trade. The regime's desire to maintain power at all costs is thus taking precedence over its stated aims of drug eradication. Unless the regime's militarization strategies are challenged, international funding will make little difference to the drug problem in Burma. A negotiated resolution of the political issues at the root of Burma's civil war is urgently needed to seriously address the drug scourge which is impacting the region..."
Source/publisher:
Palaung Women's Organization
Date of publication:
2010-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2010-01-29
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs in Shan State, The human impact of drugs and drug policies in Burma, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
Burmese
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
3.93 MB 3.38 MB
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Description:
Executive Summary: Community assessments by the Palaung Women's Organisation during the past two years reveal that the amount of opium being cultivated in Burma's northern Shan State has been increasing dramatically. The amounts are far higher than reported in the annual opium surveys of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and are flourishing not in "insurgent and ceasefire areas," as claimed by the UN, but in areas controlled by Burma's military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Between 2007-2009, PWO conducted field surveys in Namkham and Mantong townships, and found that the total area of opium cultivated increased almost fivefold over three years from 964 hectares in the 2006-7 season to 4,545 hectares in the 2008-9 season. Namkham and Mantong are both fully under the control of the SPDC. The areas have an extensive security infrastructure including Burma Army battalions, police, and pro-government village militia. These militia are allowed to engage in illicit income-generating activities in exchange for policing against resistance activity, and are being expanded in the lead up to the regime's planned 2010 elections. Local authorities, in "anti-drug teams" formed by the police in each township, have been systematically extorting fees from villagers in exchange for allowing them to grow opium. During the 2007-8 season in Mantong township, at least 37 million kyat (US$37,000) in bribes in total were collected from 28 villages. PWO data shows that the "anti-drug teams" are leaving the majority of opium fields intact, and are filing false eradication data to the police headquarters. PWO found that only 11% of the poppy fields during the 2008-9 season had been destroyed, mostly only in easily visible places. The fact that authorities are profiting from drug production is enabling drug abuse to flourish. In one village surveyed in Mantong, it was found that that the percentage of men aged 15 and over addicted to opium increased from 57% in 2007 to 85% in 2009. Around the town of Namkham, heroin addicts flock openly to "drug camps," and dealers sell heroin and amphetamines from their houses. PWO's findings thus highlight the structural issues underlying the drug problem in Burma. The regime is pursuing a strategy of increased militarization in the ethnic states to crush ethnic resistance movements, instead of entering into political negotiations with them. For this, it needs an ever growing security apparatus, which in turn is subsidized by the drug trade. The regime's desire to maintain power at all costs is thus taking precedence over its stated aims of drug eradication. Unless the regime's militarization strategies are challenged, international funding will make little difference to the drug problem in Burma. A negotiated resolution of the political issues at the root of Burma's civil war is urgently needed to seriously address the drug scourge which is impacting the region..."
Source/publisher:
Palaung Women's Organization
Date of publication:
2010-01-26
Date of entry/update:
2010-01-26
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs and the Burmese Government, Drugs in Shan State, The human impact of drugs and drug policies in Burma, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
pdf pdf
Size:
3.38 MB 3.93 MB
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Description:
"...In 2007, opium
cultivation in Myanmar rose by 29% while production was up 46% thanks to higher yields. These
increases are dwarfed by the opium boom in Afghanistan, that produces 20 times more drugs than
Myanmar. But they flash a warning sign that reminds us that Myanmar is still, by far, the world?s
second largest opium producer (at 460 tonnes). Myanmar needs a more effective counter narcotics
strategy and more assistance, if it is to reach its target of being opium free by 2014.
The situation is particularly worrisome in the South Shan State. Although access for our ground
surveyors was difficult, there are signs of significant opium cultivation in this region.
Furthermore, there is evidence that double cropping, irrigation and fertilization are resulting in
higher yields than in other parts of the country. As in parts of Afghanistan and Colombia where
drugs and insecurity overlap, various groups are taking advantage of the situation in the South
Shan State to profit from instability.
More rural development assistance is essential to reduce the vulnerability to cultivate drugs
stemming from poverty. Ridding the Golden Triangle of opium, which has taken a generation,
could be quickly undone if farmers see no improvement in their living standards. In Laos, for
example, as opium production has fallen, prices have gone up ?? by 500% in the past five years.
Returning to opium is a serious temptation in poor communities which have yet to see the benefits
of abandoning poppy.
Opium growing regions would also benefit from improved drug treatment in order to cope with
disproportionately high rates of addiction.
The signs from South East Asia have been encouraging over a number of years. But there is no
guarantee that progress can be sustained over time. To consolidate the gains made until recently,
national governments and all stakeholders in an opium-free region need to continue their
engagement. The Golden Triangle should not be forgotten now that it is no longer notorious..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2007-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2007-10-11
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"Burma's military junta is evicting thousands of villagers from previously
drug-free areas for refusing to transform their rice fields into poppy
plantations as part of a United Nations-backed "drug control" programme.
The regime has told its UN sponsors that it is moving villagers away from
regions where drugs are being produced and uprooting the poppy fields left
behind.
However, an investigation by The Sunday Times and two independent human
rights organisations, has found that the junta is secretly expanding the
number of opium farms in these designated drug control areas. Video footage
of burning poppy fields presented to the UN in support of funding
applications for schemes worth millions of pounds has been faked."
Adrian Levy, Cathy Scott-Clark
Source/publisher:
"The Sunday Times"
Date of publication:
1998-05-10
Date of entry/update:
2007-01-30
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
html
Size:
9.89 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Acreage down, yield up...EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
"...The 2006 Opium Survey in Myanmar was conducted jointly by the Government of the Union of
Myanmar (GOUM) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). An extensive
survey, combining the use of satellite images and ground verification, was conducted in Shan
State where most of the opium poppy cultivation takes place. A rapid ground survey was
conducted in Special Region 2 (Wa) to certify its opium free status. Limited ground surveys were
also conducted in townships of Kachin and Kayah States to assess the level of cultivation in these
areas and monitor possible displacement of opium poppy cultivation.
Opium poppy cultivation
In 2006, the total area under opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar was estimated at 21,500
hectares, representing a decrease of 34% compared to 2005 (32,800 hectares). The largest
cultivation areas were found in South Shan where 72% of the national cultivation took place. 21%
was cultivated in East Shan State. In North Shan State cultivation continued to decrease and
reached a negligible level. In Kayah State, which was surveyed for first time this year, only a few
hectares could be found. In 2006, there was also some limited cultivation in Kachin accounting for
5% of the total opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar. The most remarkable change was recorded
in Special Region 2 (Wa), where there was no opium poppy cultivation this year, while in 2005
this region represented 30% of the national opium poppy cultivation.
Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar has been decreasing continuously over the last years. Since
1998, the year of the United Nations Special Session on Drugs, the area under opium poppy
decreased by 83% from 130,000 ha to 21,500 ha. Since 2002, the year of the first joint GoUM
/UNODC survey, opium poppy cultivation fell by 73%.Opium yield and production
The weighted national average opium yield for 2006 was estimated at 14.6 kg/ha (against 9.5
kg/ha in 2005). Yields ranged from only 8.9 kg/ha in East Shan State over 16.6 kg/ha in South
Shan State up to 21.4 kg/ha on the best irrigated fields in Kachin State. In general, weather
conditions were favourable for opium production (sufficient and timely rainfall). In addition,
irrigation of opium poppy fields and multistage cropping contributed to yield increases. The
considerable yield increase in 2006 offset the decrease in the cultivation area. In 2006, the
potential production of opium remained with 315 metric tons almost at the level of 2005 (312
metric tons). The survey results show that the largest increase in production took place in South
Shan State. Overall opium production in Myanmar has decreased by 75% since 1998 but the
downward trend of recent years has come to a halt due to the production increases in East and
South Shan State in 2006..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office for Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2006-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2006-10-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
"Today, Myanmar, located in the heart of the ?Golden Triangle,” is the main opium producer
in Southeast Asia. However, despite its reputation as a leading producer, during the last
decade, Myanmar has demonstrated a steady and remarkable reduction in opium poppy
cultivation. While the number of hectares devoted to opium cultivation was estimated at
160,000 in the mid-1990s, by early 2004, opium poppy cultivation stood at 44,200 hectares -
- a reduction of 73% from the peak in 1996.
Together with the parallel decline in opium cultivation in Laos, this trend, if sustained, signals
a potential end to more than a century of opium production in the Golden Triangle, a fitting
close to one of the most tragic chapters in the history of narcotic drugs.
However, as history has proved in other countries, often with tragic consequences, Myanmar
now faces a critical, two-fold challenge. First, the country needs to support the decline in its
opium supply. Second, Myanmar must strive to prevent the humanitarian disaster
threatening opium-growing families who at present live on, or below, the poverty line.
These two processes must be implemented simultaneously. Supply control will bring more
stability to a country that has been plagued by ethnic tensions, tensions that have often been
exacerbated by narco-trafficking. At the same time, without provisions designed to ensure
that the basic needs of affected families are met, without the necessary human rights
guarantees, the current opium reduction programme may prove unsustainable.
Democratization and national reconciliation in Myanmar, as well as a national commitment to
drug control, are goals the United Nations has re-affirmed on several occasions. I would thus
encourage the Government of Myanmar to adopt the steps recommended by the Secretary-
General in his report on the human rights situation in Myanmar, along with the reduction of
opium cultivation. The international donor community also carries a responsibility to support
this process by providing alternative sources of income to those families in Myanmar whose
livelihoods are affected by the loss of opium-generated revenue.
The world has watched as various countries have struggled to eliminate the cultivation of
opium. Some states have succeeded ? others have failed. Those who were able to realize a
reduction in poppy cultivation brought both stability and progress to their nations and their
citizens. Those who failed at curtailing the production of opium also failed at providing the
security the citizens of these nations need and deserve, both within and beyond national
their national borders.
While the United Nations welcomes any significant progress in opium reduction, we are very
much aware that, in Myanmar, there remains a very fine line between success and failure.
We continue to believe, however, that the proposed compact between the Myanmar
government and the international community is a powerful alternative to failure, and that this
compact has both the potential and the support to turn the current crop reduction effort in
Myanmar into a sustainable and successful process..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2004-10-11
Date of entry/update:
2005-11-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
"...Opium cultivation in Myanmar has steadily declined since 2000, and two-thirds of poppy crops
have disappeared. Compared with the peak in 1996, the number of hectares devoted to opium has
been reduced by 80% in 2005, from 163,000 hectares to 32,800 hectares. When adding the
weather factor, influencing opium yields on the fields, an 82% decline in the opium production is
registered over the same period of time. While the data included in the report is largely positive, certain worrying factors, with a potential
to undo this rapid progress, need addressing. Compared to the previous year, opium production
has doubled in the southern Shan State despite the acreage showing only a slight increase. This is
in part due to additional rains, however, and more disquieting, also due to improved cultivation
practices. The latter, in turn, is an indication of more sophisticated criminal activity, transcending
poverty, and not dissimilar to the trends witnessed with ATS production: cross-border networking
and transfer of new and improved techniques.
Even so and taking note of the exception mentioned, general figures overwhelmingly associate
opium with marginal economic conditions typical to remote mountainous areas in which most of
the opium is grown. Shocking for anybody less familiar to the opium problem in Myanmar, is the
low income of farmers in the Shan State. Non-opium growing households in the Shan State earn
an average US$364 annually, against only US$292 for an opium farming household, consisting of
both parents and two to four children. Half of the households surveyed in the Shan State report
food insecurity; a figure that rises to an astounding 90% in concentrated poppy-cultivation areas.
With the loss of opium income, these poor farmers and their families not only lose their coping
mechanism to deal with endemic poverty and a chronic food shortage; they equally lose access to
health services and to schools. They end up very vulnerable to exploitation and misery ? from
human right abuses to enforce the opium bans, to internal displacement or human trafficking to
survive the bans.
For the United Nations, replacing one social evil (narcotics) with another (hunger and poverty) is
wrong. Therefore the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime calls on the international
community to provide for the basic human needs of those affected. The situation in the Golden
Triangle is similar to the one in Afghanistan and the Andeans: some of the poorest people are
being affected by the loss of income from drugs as cultivation declines. Thus, the international
community must have the wisdom to fight drugs and poverty simultaneously, to eliminate both the
causes and the effects of these twin afflictions. In other words, the world will not condone
counter-narcotic measures that result in humanitarian disasters. If there is one concrete measure
that the Government and its development assistance partners can take now to ensure Myanmar?s
future, it is this: food security and income generation programmes must remain in place and be
strengthened to support both the farmers? decisions not to plant opium, and enforcement measures
to eradicate the opium that is planted against the law..."
Source/publisher:
UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
Date of publication:
2005-11-01
Date of entry/update:
2005-11-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
"In March 2003, a joint assessment team comprising international NGOs and UN
agencies operating in Myanmar traveled to the Kokang and Wa Special Regions in
north-eastern Shan State. Their purpose was to assess the humanitarian impact of the
opium ban in the Kokang region, and the potential impact of a similar ban due to go
into effect in the Wa region in June 2005.
The following is the report submitted by this team after their mission. It is unedited
and unabridged. Maps used in the report have been removed to reduce the file size.
They are available from the UNODC Myanmar Office upon request."
Source/publisher:
Joint Kokang-Wa Humanitarian Needs Assessment Team
Date of publication:
2003-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2005-11-01
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
UNODC (formerly UNDCP and ODCCP) (English), Burma: opium and heroin, Drug bans and poppy crop substitution
Language:
English
more
Description:
Cox's Bazaar, May 30, 2005:
"A young Rakhaing woman aged 22 was arrested holding 5 grams of heroin by the Narcotics Department in Cox's Bazaar, the southernmost district town of Bangladesh near the Burmese border, on 28 May, according to a local townsperson.
She was caught red-handed when narcotics officers raided the woman's house during the day..."
Source/publisher:
Narinjara News
Date of publication:
2005-05-30
Date of entry/update:
2005-06-02
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Narinjara News, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
7.91 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Cox's Bazar, April 11:
"Two Bangladeshi Arakanese women were arrested by police in Cox'sbazar, a southern district town of Bangladesh near Burma, for heroin-dealing. The arrest occurred on April 7th, reported a Cox'sbazar-based Bangali newspaper..."
Source/publisher:
Narinjara News
Date of publication:
2005-04-11
Date of entry/update:
2005-04-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Narinjara News, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
10.53 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Maungdaw, Nov 25: "The Acting Chief of the Burmese Border Security forces, or Nasaka, from Maung Daw has been charged with involvement in heroin traffic on November 13, said a police officer but he denied to disclose his name.
Lieutenant Colonel Myint Oo was detained at the base of the Light Infantry Division (233) at Buthi Daung Township, and the Chief of Arakan Police Nyo Win is heading the investigation on the Lt. Col?s involvement..."
Source/publisher:
Narinjara News
Date of publication:
2004-11-25
Date of entry/update:
2004-12-25
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Narinjara News, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
8.36 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
August 6, 2004:
"About 30 heroin smugglers killed each other in the Martaban Sea, southwestern part of Burma, before the the military regime SPDC authorities and Military Intelligence (MI) seized about 830 kilograms (1, 660 pounds) heroin from a Mon smuggler in Hnit-kayin, a coastal village, Ye township, southern Mon State, according to the villagers..."
Source/publisher:
Independent Mon News Agency
Date of publication:
2004-08-06
Date of entry/update:
2004-08-13
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
11.42 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
Executive Summary:-
"In Myanmar, the problem of opium and heroin production has deep historical roots that reach
back to the 19th century. Second source of illicit opium and heroin in the world after
Afghanistan during the last decade, the country has recorded an encouraging decline of illicit
opium poppy cultivation since the mid-1990s.
Results of the extensive fieldwork and satellite imagery analysis conducted by the last
UNODC-supported opium survey confirm the continuation of the positive trend in 2003. With
a further one-year decline of 24%, opium poppy cultivation is now down to 62,200 ha
(against 81,400 ha in 2002). Since 1996, cultivation has declined by more than 100,000 ha,
or 62%...[chart]...
The largest cultivation decrease this year took place in the Northern Shan State (- 50%). It is
attributed to farmers? compliance with the Government?s request not to plant opium poppy.
Important decreases also took place in the Southwestern (-18%) and Southeastern areas
(-26%) of the Shan State. By contrast, cultivation increased by 21% in the Wa Special
Region 2, and 6% in the Central Shan region. As a result, the Wa Special region 2 now ranks
first for opium poppy cultivation, with 34% of the national total, and the Northern Shan region
second with 29%, in 2003.
Based on an estimated harvest of about 810 metric tons of opium, and a price of
approximately 130 US$/kg, the total farmgate value of the 2003 opium production in
Myanmar would amount to around US$ 105 million.
The estimated 350,000 households who cultivated opium poppy in the Shan State this year
would earn an average of about US$ 175 from the sale of their individual opium harvest.
Although seemingly very small, this income makes opium by far the first source of cash for
those families, accounting for 70% of their total annual cash income (about US$ 230)"...
Table of contents:-
INTRODUCTION...
FINDINGS:
OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATION;
YIELD AND PRODUCTION
OPIUM PRICES AND CASH INCOME;
FIELD DAMAGE;
ADDICTION;
ERADICATION...
WA ALTERNATIVE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT SURVEY FINDINGS:
OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATION;
OPIUM YIELD AND PRODUCTION;
OPIUM PRICES
METHODOLOGY:
ORGANISATION AND STAFF;
OPIUM POPPY CULTIVATION ESTIMATES;
YIELD ESTIMATION...
ANNEXES:
Annex 1 Satellite images used for the 2003 Opium Survey;
Annex 2 Calculation for Opium Area Estimates;
Annex 3 Opium Cultivation Area and Production by township;
Annex 4 Opium Survey Results By Administrative Zones for 2002 and 2003...
Maps:
Map 1 2003 Survey Regions;
Map 2 2003 Distribution of Opium Poppy Cultivation over Agricultural Areas;
Map 3 2003 Opium Poppy Cultivation (by Township);
Map 4 Shan State - Change in Opium Poppy Cultivation 2002-03;
Map 5 2003 Opium Production (by township);
Map 6 WADP townships;
Map 7 Sampled village tracts in the Shan State;
Map 8 Landsat7 and IKONOS map used for the 2003 Myanmar opium survey;
Map 9 Shan State ? Administrative Regions.
Source/publisher:
UN Office on Drugs and Crime
Date of publication:
2003-06-18
Date of entry/update:
2003-12-19
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
THE PROPOSAL:
"We, the leadership of the United WA State Party (UWSP) and the United WA State Army (UWSA) propose to anyone who might be interested, that we eradicate opium growing and stop the production of heroin in all the territory controlled by the WA. This we are willing to do. It can be done very quickly. I have full authority to speak for the United WA State Party and the United WA State Army which has ample power to carry out this proposal...
THE PLEA"
The plea is a necessary part of the proposal. We need food for our people while we develop substitute crops. Our people are already so poor that to take away opium production without giving them food would mean starvation. Beyond that, we need help of every appropriate kind to make the transition from an opium-based economy to a new agricultural economy..."
Ta Saw Lu
Source/publisher:
United Wa State Party (UWSP) Foreign Affairs Department
Date of publication:
1993-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-07-23
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Burma: drug production and trafficking, Wa (cultural, political, economic), Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
English
Format :
htm
Size:
41.91 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
La drogue, petrole, la junte birmane, la France...Le livre de Francis Christophe (moins Introduction et Annexe).
DU ROI THEBAW A LA FRENCH-SLORC-CONNECTION; LA MONTEE DE l'OPIUM EN BIRMANIE; L'ARRIVEE EN FORCE DU SLORC;
LA REDDITION-REHABILITATION DE KHUN SA; LE SLORC, REINCARNATION DE LA DICTATURE PRECEDENTE; PARRAINAGES ET RESEAUX; LE PARAVENT DE L'ENGAGEMENT CONSTRUCTIF;
LES AMIS DU SLORC; INDE-BIRMANIE: L'HEROINE BOUSCULE LE STATU-QUO; NARCO-REACTION EN CHAINE; EXCEPTION FRANCAISE;
LA CHUTE de MANDALAY; MIRAGE ET TABOU SUR LA DROGUE;
DIPLOMATIE PETROLIERE TOTAL EN BIRMANIE, L'IMPLANTATION;
LE FARDEAU BIRMAN; SUCCES SUR LE TERRAIN, DIFFICULTES MEDIATIQUES; LES CIRCUITS POLITIQUES ET ECONOMIQUES;
UNE FRENCH-SLORC-CONNECTION? UN ENGAGEMENT DESTRUCTEUR.
Francis Christophe
Date of publication:
1998-00-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Drugs and Burma: general links, reports and articles, Money-laundering and oil and gas, Yadana Field - (Total, Chevron, PTTEP, MOGE), Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
Francais, French
Format :
htm
Size:
268.04 KB
Local URL:
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Description:
"Testimony of two escaped porters from Shan State"
Source/publisher:
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) Regional & Thematic Reports
Date of publication:
1993-02-01
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
Review of "Out of Control 2"..."...A new report, titled ?Out Of Control 2?, issued by the Southeast Asian Information Network [SAIN] shows the involvement of Burmese regime officials in narcotics trafficking and the correlation of increased drug trade and rising HIV/AIDS rates in Burma and beyond its borders..."
Source/publisher:
"The Irrawaddy", Vol. 6, No. 6
Date of publication:
1998-12-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more
Description:
John Sweeney in Rangoon uncovers the links between Burma's drug barons and a repressive regime that likes to trumpet to the world its tough anti-drugs policy
John Sweeney
Source/publisher:
The Observer
Date of publication:
2001-04-08
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
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Description:
"Quelles réalités économiques, politiques et militaires se cachent derrière les phénomènes de société que sont la production de drogues illicites
dans les pays du Sud et leur consommation dans les pays industrialisés?
Si l?opium est produit et consommé depuis la plus haute Antiquité, sa production à large échelle en Asie est, quant à elle, étroitement liée à la colonisation
britannique d?abord et à la guerre froide par la suite. En effet, après la Deuxième Guerre mondiale, les troupes nationalistes chinoises dans le Triangle
d?Or et, plus récemment, les moudjahidins afghans puis les talibans dans le Croissant d?Or, ont eu recours à l?économie de l?opium pour financer leurs guerres, en
bénéficiant de l?appui bienveillant de la CIA dans leurs luttes contre le communisme.
Aujourd?hui, ces groupes, ayant perdu leurs motivations et apparences idéologiques, ont donné naissance à d?autres groupes, bien organisés et
puissamment armés et qui, à travers leur rôle dans l?économie des drogues illicites, demeurent plus actifs que jamais.
En Asie, l?opium, du nerf de la guerre en est devenu l?enjeu, avec ses multiples conséquences géopolitiques dans les pays du Sud et ses retombées sociales et
économiques dans nos sociétés occidentales.
En comparant l?Afghanistan et la Birmanie, à travers les deux espaces majeurs de production d?opium et d?héroïne que sont le Croissant d?Or et le Triangle
d?Or, l?auteur a effectué un véritable travail d?investigation et d?analyse pour identifier les acteurs, localiser les réseaux, évaluer les enjeux géopolitiques et expliquer les logiques
fondamentales d?une production qui alimente un marché aux profits vertigineux et aux implications mondiales..." Table des matieres, Introduction, cartes, Compte-rendus et critiques et liens a d?autres documents de l?auteur.
Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy
Source/publisher:
Editions d
Date of publication:
2002-10-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Category:
Online sale of crafts, clothes, art, books, CDs, magazines etc., Drugs and Burma: general links, reports and articles, Burma: opium and heroin
Language:
Francais, French
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Description:
"...The 2002 opium poppy survey was the first comprehensive survey implemented
throughout the Shan State of Myanmar by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control (CCDAC) of the Government of Myanmar in co-operation with UNDCP, in the
framework of UNDCP?s Illicit Crop Monitoring Programme (ICMP)...The present report consists of three main chapters. Chapter one describes the
methodology and the implementation of the survey. Chapter two presents the main
findings of the opium survey. A third chapter presents a brief socio-economic profile of
the northern Wa Special Region which accounts 22% of the poppy cultivation in
Myanmar. This study, the first of its kind, could be used for planning activities to tackle
the supply and demand sides of opium use in this area. Several annexes present the
breakdown of the estimates as well as maps illustrating some of the survey findings..."
Source/publisher:
UNDCP/CCDAC
Date of publication:
2002-08-27
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
Film by Adrian Cowell
Adrian Cowell
Source/publisher:
"Frontline", PBS USA
Date of publication:
1997-05-20
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
more
Description:
Contents: origin and history of the opium poppy, the opium poppy plant, Opium poppy growing areas, Field selection and land clearing, Land preparation and cultivation methods, opium harvesting methods, Cooking opium, Extraction of morphine from opium, Conversion of morphine to heroin base,
Conversion of heroin base to heroin No. 3, Conversion of heroin base to heroin No. 4.
Source/publisher:
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Department of Justice.
Date of publication:
2001-03-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
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Description:
Drug Intelligence Brief
Synopsis:
"This report provides an analysis of available data on opium and heroin prices in Mainland Southeast
Asia (Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam). The report is documented with detailed
descriptions of the general wholesale price structure of opium and heroin in Asia. While the heroin
market spans the globe, much of the Southeast Asian opium and heroin product is sold and
consumed within the region. Therefore, the focus in this report is on prices in Southeast Asia with
only limited reference made to United States prices. The data used to prepare this analysis are
drawn from numerous sources. Opium price data are derived from anecdotal reports provided by
confidential sources of the Thai police. Heroin price data are acquired from a variety of sources to
include law enforcement reporting, intelligence reports, and open sources of information. There are many factors impacting drug prices..."
Source/publisher:
Intelligence Division, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the US Dept. of Justice
Date of publication:
2001-02-00
Date of entry/update:
2003-06-03
Grouping:
Individual Documents
Language:
English
more