"...Since the assumption of power of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in September 1988, Burma has experienced a dramatic rise in the production and export of illegal narcotics. Since 1996, opium and heroin production doubled. In the years since there has been a steady decline in opium production and the export of heroin. Far from being the result of government and international efforts, this has been largely the cause of a production and market shift, from opiates to amphetamine type stimulants (ATS). The drug trade in Burma is conducted predominantly by Chinese criminal organizations, protected at every step by ethnic militia armies with links to transnational criminal networks. They are routinely and systematically assisted by members of the Burmese Army (Tatmadaw) in a network that has no official approval, but which is so widespread and deep as to be systemic and multi-layered, from the troops on the ground to the generals in Rangoon....The SPDC has failed to resolutely interdict the narcotics trade in Burma. Efforts so far to accord with its stated aims and international obligations have been insufficient to increase the current level of United Nations funding, or for the United States Government to certify the regime as cooperating fully on stopping the drug trade. Narcotics eradication efforts cannot be depoliticized or sequestered from the SPDC's wider aims, which includes the pacification of ethnic people. The humanitarian crisis facing opium farming communities in the Shan State must be urgently addressed by the international community. This should entail greater lobbying of the SPDC to slow down their eradication drive and take a more gradual, sustainable approach to eradication. The regime must demonstrate that their war on drugs is one conducted with greater respect for human rights, providing sustainable alternative incomes and more positive development for the communities. Other communities affected by drug eradication projects, such as Shan displaced by UWSA and UNODC sponsored forced relocations should also be recognized and assisted..."