The eradication of drug production in Burma is contingent upon a reduction in the number of ethnic armed forces, stipulates a United Nations Office of Drug Control (UNODC) report.
According to the report, drug cultivation and trafficking is critical to the survival of ethnic armed forces.
Shan State is said to be the biggest region for drug production, an area which is also home to a score of ethnic armed forces.
But Shan State Army (South) spokesman Major Sai Lao Sai defended his army, saying the group is implementing anti-narcotic and narcotic suppression programs.
“We have nothing to do with this drug cultivation and drug trafficking and we don’t want them [the drugs]. So I’d like to say we are not involved in the drug trafficking business,” contends the Major.
The UNODC report continues, “The major producers of heroin and ATS (amphetamine-type stimulants) tablets in Shan State are the largest armies in Shan State, the United Wa State Army (UWSA), Shan State Army (South) and forces in the Kokang region.”
However a UWSA spokesman defended the armed group, stating the UWSA has already declared their region an opium free zone where drug cultivation and trafficking is strictly prohibited.
U Khun Sai, Director of Shan State Drug Watchgroup, said as opium cultivation takes place in junta controlled areas, drug trafficking cannot be related to ethnic armed forces.
“Who would dare and be foolish enough to enter an area heavily guarded by well equipped SPDC [Burma Army] forces and cultivate opium. Those who are cultivating opium in these areas have to pay a levy and tax to the SPDC and in return SPDC officers turn a blind eye on opium cultivations,” he explained.
After former drug warlord Khun Sa surrendered to the military regime in 1996, an opium substitution program was implemented in Shan State, effectively reducing acreage devoted to the cultivation of the opium poppy by 87 percent, though the produciton of ATS tablets has skyrocketed over the same time period.
Nonetheless, about 330 tons of raw opium were produced in Burma in 2009, earning end sales of USD 360 million, estimates the UNODC report.
