Opium production: SE Asia can't kick the habit

In the name of oppressed ethnic nationalities, a significant number of armed groups surfaced in Burma (now Myanmar) in the aftermath of World War II. Some relied on the sale of opium to finance their campaigns. Some continue to do so.

Discovering that opium rivalled gold in terms of value and demand, they cultivated the crop and used it in place of hard currency. Those involved in the struggles were willing to turn a blind eye to such illicit activities as long as their military and political goals were met. For state and non-state actors alike, opium was the crop of choice for military funding. Processing became more sophisticated and Burma began to churn out the purest form of heroin, Grade 4, to export around the world. 

The Golden Triangle – the tract of mountainous borderland where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet and where most of the production takes place – became the focus of filmmakers and writers, and a picture emerged of a region where drug barons and warlords play for keeps.

Over the years politicians have fired off warnings to the rulers of this lawless region, while others have declared war on their “narco-armies”. But no one has ever succeeded in putting a dent in the illicit multibillion-dollar industry. 

Over the past decade or so, the drug-trading armies have shifted to synthetic “designer” narcotics such as methamphetamine. Production costs have fallen and the target customers are no longer just addicts in American and European cities but users right here in Thailand and the rest of Southeast Asia. 

Yet, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, heroin is making a comeback. 

Poverty and the lure of cash has seen opium-poppy production in the Golden Triangle region climb steadily for the past eight years. 

According to the agency’s recently released “Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2014 – Lao PDR, Myanmar”, opium cultivation in these two countries took up 63,800 hectares this year, compared to 61,200 in 2013.

While those figures still far short the peak of the late 1990s, the fact that they have been rising for almost a decade should be warning enough to countries in the region that something has to be done to stem this trend. 

Together, Myanmar and Laos produced an estimated 762 tonnes of opium this year, yielding 76 tonnes of heroin to be trafficked to neighbouring countries and across the world.

Nearly 90 per cent of the Golden Triangle’s opium and heroin is produced in Myanmar’s Shan State, where a number of insurgent groups operate. Needless to say, opium and insurgency in Myanmar are inextricably bound together. You can’t tackle one issue without addressing the other. 

Facing food shortages and poverty, poor farmers find a lifeline in cultivating poppies. No one is going to climb a mountain to buy cabbages, while the illicit poppies are valuable and sought-after. But those who reap the real profits are the traffickers, crime syndicates and corrupt government officials, overseen by warlords in fancy SUVs and armouries packed with submachine guns. 

Regional policymakers’ headline-grabbing declarations of “war” on the drug traders have done nothing to stymie the production of narcotics. If they are serious about clamping down on this massive and damaging illicit industry, they must now develop the political will and courage to tackle the problem in a comprehensive manner. This means addressing insurgency, political settlements for the ethnic armies, poverty, controlling the flow of precursor chemicals, and crop-substitution programmes, plus improved market access for poor farmers.