Production of opium in Myanmar is flourishing since the military's seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year, the United Nations reports.
Production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military's seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year, according to a United Nations' report released on Thursday.It estimates the overall value of Myanmar's opiate economy ranges between $660 million and $2 billionEradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has led more people toward the drug trade, the report found.
"Economic, security and governance disruptions that followed the military takeover of February 2021 have converged, and farmers in remote, often conflict-prone, areas in northern Shan and border states have had little option but to move back to opium," the UN office's regional representative, Jeremy Douglas, said.
"Virtually all the heroin reported in East and South-East Asia, and Australia, originates in Myanmar, and the country remains the second-largest opium and heroin producer in the world after Afghanistan," Mr Douglas said. The "Golden Triangle" area — where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet — has historically been a major production area for opium and has hosted many of the labs that convert it to heroin.
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