Global help urged for Burma's war on opium and speed pills
The Bangkokpost (29-01-02)
Achara Ashayagachat
It's a humanitarian issue, says UN man
The United Nations drug agency yesterday called on the international community to step up assistance towards drug suppression in Burma, and to consider it a humanitarian issue.
Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the Rangoon-based representative of the UN International Drug Control Programme, said Burma was replacing Afghanistan as the world's biggest opium producer.
He called for stronger legal enforcement among regional states, and curbs on demand in Thailand as a means to beat the problem of methamphetamines.``Thailand is now the biggest consumption area in the Southeast Asian region, so even if Burma is no longer an methamphetamine producer, production could pop up somewhere else,'' he said.
Burma produced about 865 tonnes of opium last year, as against 1,085 tonnes in 2000, continuing a downward trend since 1996 when production peaked at 1,760 metric tons, he said at the launch of a new book Opium Reduction in Thailand 1970-2000: A Thirty Year Journey.To keep up this momentum, the international community had to give more assistance, he said.
``The political situation [in Burma] is one thing, but now with the gradual political will from Rangoon to combat the drugs problem, it's time to act. We have to tackle drugs as a humanitarian issue,'' he said.``Better livelihood seems not to be coming forward,'' he said.
With 68% of the global production now concentrated in Burma, drugs posed regional security problems, he stressed.``Opium relates to poverty so we need to provide food security, and with the alarming rate of the HIV/Aids spread in Burma, the drugs problem cannot now be neglected.''
Currently, the UNDCP could only cover one part of the Wa-controlled region with yearly assistance of US$12 million for five years.
``If we want to see a drastic impact on the opium situation, we need a three-to-four fold [increase] for the northern Wa region and the Gogang area,'' he said.
Mr Lemahieu expressed concern about drugs consumption in Shan state, where 95% of the national opium cultivation is concentrated.``Drug production and drug abuse problems are intertwined and we need to tackle both supply and demand sides,'' he said.
Asked if Thai experiences could be of use to counter-drug efforts in Burma, he said the community approaches were very important but it was more difficult to deal with middlemen and local authorities, he said.
Burma faced a unity problem as it did not have a leader like His Majesty the King of Thailand, he pointed out. Even with Rangoon proclaiming political will to reduce drugs production, the Wa and the Gogang seemed not to respect it.Because opium production increased after Rangoon's ceasefire with ethnic groups in late 1980s, Mr Lemahieu doubted Rangoon could free the Wa state of drugs by 2005 as announced.
``Even Thailand needs 30 years to remarkably reduce opium and you still need to solve some other problems. How can Rangoon do it, especially with the limited resources?''he said.``The situation there could not be changed overnight, we need to engage [the ethnic people], we need to learn from them to bring them in and also educate them to change their mindset, so the tasks go slowly and we need continuous assistance to maintain the sustainable solution,'' he said.The methamphetamine problem was rooted in greed while opium stemmed from poverty, he said.
Intensified regional law enforcement was imperative to efficient suppression.``Why lots of them at border areas? Because the interception rate between production and consumption place is lax, so cross-border co-operation among neighbours including China, Burma, Thailand, and Laos is very important.''
Strengthened regional co-ordination and exchange of intelligence last year saw tangible positive results in arrests of four major drug traffickers.