At a time when opium cultivation peaks, in a bold decision Burma’s second strongest ethnic armed group the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), has prevented over 6,000 acres of land being brought under opium cultivation, in northern Burma’s Kachin State.

The areas lie mainly in Sadung region in Waingmaw Township in eastern Kachin State, under KIO control. Opium growers have been stopped by soldiers of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed-wing of the KIO since mid-October in a fresh operation, said Naw Bu, spokesperson of KIO’s Drug Eradication Committee.

In some areas in Sadung, obstacles are being put in the way of the ‘KIO’s Drug Eradication Mission’ by Burmese Army troops, who have a vested interest because of a nexus with opium growers and traders, said Naw Bu.

Contrary to perception of some, most of the opium growers are not local people but mainly businessmen working out of main cities in Kachin State, including businessmen from neighbouring China’s Yunnan province, Naw Bu told Kachin News Group.

In Waingmaw township opium cultivation is totally banned in areas under KIO control. However as far as the junta controlled areas are concerned, including areas under the Border Guard Force, formerly the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), there is no-holds-barred cultivation of opium, said local people.

In another drive, the KIO rounded up about 1,000 drug users and peddlers in its border towns with China--- Laiza and Mai Ja Yang, said Naw Bu. Drug addicts are being sent to rehabilitation centres for treatment up to six months, he added.

In an atmosphere of apprehension of renewed civil war with the Burmese Army, the KIO, as a parallel government in Kachin State launched the “War against Drugs” in October. It is currently being implemented in its territories in Kachin State and Northern Shan State.

People in Laiza and Mai Ja Yang said drug addiction and peddling dropped significantly in the two places after the KIO’s latest drug eradication operation was launched.

Interestingly, in Kachin State, the military rulers are not officially opposing the KIO’s anti-drug mission, however, it has stopped the entry of KIO’s posters and pamphlets creating awareness against drugs in regime controlled areas, said Naw Bu.

He said the KIO will release a preliminary report on its drug eradication mission over these two and-a-half months before the end of this year.