In a meeting he said: “When we look back at cases of drug abuse in Karenni State we can see that year on year they are escalating, so we need to enforce law and order more rigorously.”

He added that although action is regularly taken the rate of drug use is still high because drug dealing is increasing throughout the country.

Hla Lwin, a deputy police major from narcotic control police unit No. 20 said that they wanted to eradicate drug use in Karenni State within five years. To do this they will draw up and implement projects to improve the living standards of farmers growing opium at Loikaw, Hphruso and De Maw So townships from 2014 to 2019.

He said: “Previously there were no Drug Control police units in the area, but then in 2014 the drug control units were expanded and No. 20 unit was based here which has increased our presence in the area.

The Kantarawaddy Times has learnt that the narcotic control unit will still face obstacles to its work in areas that are hard to reach with normal transportation.

Major Hla Lwin said: “Currently, we have no difficulties operating in the downtown areas of the township, but we are finding it harder in other areas due to transport problems. Then, further away there are armed groups and we cannot just go straight to those areas because we need to first inform them [the armed groups] we are coming to avoid misunderstandings, which makes it difficult for us.”

The value of amphetamines, raw opium, black opium and brown opium seized rose from 13.6 million Kyats in 2013 to 646.7 million Kyats in 2014.

At present for 60 percent of opium farmers growing opium is their only source of income while 30 percent rely on other sources of income and grow opium to make extra money. The situation of the final 10 percent is not known.

The authorities have already started to implement the five-year project, which aims to get 60 percent of opium farmers to grow other crops instead of opium. The government is also planning another programme to help support their livelihoods.