TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report titled 'Southeast Asia Opium Survey: Lao PDR, Myanmar' found that opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar and Lao PDR rose to 63,800 hectares (ha) in 2014 compared to 61,200 ha in 2013 - marking the eighth consecutive year-on-year increases, and triple the amount harvested in 2006.
The report, which was released in Bangkok on Monday, December 8, 2014, stated that Myanmar remains Southeast Asia's top opium producer, along with the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Together, Myanmar and Lao PDR produced an estimated 762 tonnes of opium, most of which – using smuggled precursor chemicals like acetyl anhydride – was refined into a estimated 76 metric tonnes of heroin, which is then trafficked to markets in neighboring countries and outside the region.
"The region's large demand for heroin provides profitable incentives for transnational crime groups. Not only by bringing in the chemicals needed to make heroin, but in particular by trafficking and distributing the drug to markets in China, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world," said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative, Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
"The link between poverty, lack of alternative economic options and opportunities, and poppy cultivation is clear," said Cheikh Toure, UNODC Lao PDR Country Manager, who pointed out that money generated from poppy cultivation is essential for villagers in the are - many of whom are threatened with food insecurity and poverty. "Opium farmers are not bad people. They are poor, food insecure people, usually living far from centres and markets where they could sell other products. They need viable alternatives to growing poppy."
UNODC also warned that the opium business and trade threatens well-intentioned regional integration and development plans.
"We need to act. The Golden Triangle is the geographic centre of the Greater Mekong Sub-region, and plans are well underway to expand transport connections and relax trade barriers and border controls, including around opium producing areas. The organized networks that benefit from Southeast Asia's illicit drug trade are very well positioned to take advantage of regional integration," said Douglas. (*)
