Country at risk of widespread drugs
Myanmar's area under opium poppy cultivation covered 57,800 hectares, continuing increases in cultivation that started after 2006, according to the 2014 World Drug Report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Released yesterday, the report showed that the area is one fourth of total cultivation area, which stayed at 209,000 hectares in 2013 from 154,000 in 2012. Afghanistan produces some 5,500 tonnes or up to 80 per cent of global opium production.
After showing a dramatic increase between 2008 and 2011, heroin seizures levelled off in 2012 and 2013 suggesting a stable trend, but remain at a very high levels with a little over 9 metric tonnes seized per year. These seizures coincide with rebounding opium poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle where increases year-on-year have been reported since 2006, and cultivation stands at over 60,000 hectares.
Heroin remains a major drug of concern in several countries in the region including China, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam, the report said.
The report showed that East and Southeast Asia and South Asia continued to be a source of supply of pseudoephedrine and ephedrine used in illicit manufacture of methamphetamine in the region and other parts of the world.
“Countries in the region and international partners need to significantly scale-up cooperation and technical assistance in precursor control,” said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Around 243 million individuals, or 5 per cent of the world’s population aged 15-64, used illicit drugs in the past year. Problem drug users meanwhile numbered about 27 million, roughly 0.6 per cent of the world’s adult population, or 1 in every 200 people.
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