Some farmers in the Wa region may still try to cultivate small plots of opium for their own use after the ban—mostly for elderly addicts—as often occurs in
Laos and
Thailand.
The opium bans in Burma are the product of international pressure, caused by the deadline-oriented thinking and repressive anti-narcotics strategies of the international community. The US has blamed the drug problem in Burma on narco-armies and has indicted drug kingpins. However, after decades of civil war, the reality of the drug trade in Burma is that few of the conflict parties can claim to have clean hands. Decisions over whom to blame for the drug trade and whom to indict seem arbitrary and politicized. Experience from Burma over the last 35 years has also shown that trying to arrest suspected kingpins does not help. Those who stand to suffer the most from these measures are at the bottom of the trade—the opium farmers in Shan State.
Communities in opium-growing areas have not been able to meet their basic needs before the opium bans. Such restrictions could dramatically increase the already ongoing process of erosion of upland rural livelihood bases and produce a humanitarian crisis. Under such circumstances, the sustainability of the ban over the years to come is uncertain.
The only viable and humane approach to reduce opium production may require easing the opium ban deadlines, while creating alternative livelihoods for opium farmers. This would necessitate greater international assistance for a sustainable community-based approach in order to enable opium farmers to participate in decision-making processes about their future.
E-MAIL
PRINT
