The report by the Palaung Women’s Organization from Northern Shan State claims that since 2005, when the region came under the control of Myanmar’s military, there has been a rapid escalation in opium cultivation.

A Palaung separatist army, representing the one million Palaung people, had previously controlled the area, but surrendered after a ceasefire agreement in 2005. Since then, the military has expanded its presence with the help of local militia.

85 per cent men addicted in one village

Lway Aye Nang, a coordinator with the women’s group, says, "our assessment shows that there has been a sharp increase in opium cultivation in the past few years. From 2007 to 2009 the area under opium cultivation increased by about six fold to almost 4,000 hectares in Mantong Township and it doubled in Namkham Township to about 600 hectares."

In one village surveyed in Mantong Township, some 85 per cent of males over 15 were addicted to either opium or heroin.

The Palaung are largely tea famers but ever more are turning to opium cultivation as Myanmar’s government maintains tight controls over tea prices.

Militarization increases pressure

The increased militarization of the region and a policy of local self-reliance by the armed forces have raised pressures on the local communities, the report says.

Lway Daug Jar, a researcher on the report, explains, "those militias and soldiers live off the Palaung people in the area. So the people have to feed those militias and those soldiers. People cannot earn money in tea anymore. Palaung people they are growing opium to pay enough tax. At the same time, those drugs are destroying their sons and their future."

Official ‘anti-drug teams’, instead of eradicating poppy, take bribes and then allow most of the poppy cultivation to remain. The report says that in 2007/08 in the Mantong Township, covering 41 villages, the people paid more than 37 million kyat – 26,000 euros – in bribes.

UN relies on government data

Estimates of opium production by the Palaung Women’s Organization also exceed those of the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime. Debbie Stothardt, spokesperson for the Alternative ASEAN Network, says the United Nations' under-reporting of opium cultivation in Myanmar – also known as Burma -- is tied to the reliance on official data.

"UNODC and all these agencies do not even dare use the information collected by these brave people", Stothardt says, "because they do not want to be seen as political. They do not want to criticise the military authorities of Burma who have created the situation that make communities grow opium and perpetuate the economic deprivation and the insecurity to keep that business going."

The group is calling on the military government to cease recruiting militia in ethnic areas, to implement a nationwide ceasefire agreement and to start a dialogue with ethnic leaders and those from Myanmar’s pro-democracy movement in order to address the deep-rooted drug problems in the country.

Author: Ron Corben (Bangkok)
Editor: Grahame Lucas