A Failing Grade: Burma's Drug Eradication Efforts

Bangkok, Thailand: ALTSEAN-Burma. 2004. Trade paperback. Very good. No dust jacket as issued.. 250 p. Includes: illustrations, maps, index, bibliography. Special Report . Burma remains the world s largest producer of illegal narcotics after Afghanistan. The ruling military regime has long been suspected of some form of collusion in the drug trade, either through direct participation or disinclination to curb the activities of major drug producing syndicates. The Burmese military, the Tatmadaw, have a long and deep involvement with major narcotics producing and trafficking syndicates, which they utilize for national security, corporate rent seeking, and personal profit. This report finds little evidence that the current military government, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is serious about curbing the production and export of narcotics from Burma. While there has been a decrease in the production of opium-based narcotics, this has been offset by a dramatic rise in the production of amphetamine type stimulants (ATS). These have caused considerable social problems in neighboring Thailand; have begun appearing in other Southeast Asian markets and Australia, and in increasing shipments to the United States. Burma has also been designated a country of primary money laundering concern and all of its financial institutions have been cut off from the United States system due to deep involvement in drug profits. In the past five years, changes to the drug trade in Burma have increasingly affected regional countries that have experienced greater drug consumption, adverse health effects and social disorder. Large-scale exports of processed heroin to North American markets have been redirected, so that now nearly 80 percent of Burmese manufactured opiates are directed at and through Southern China, causing an increase in crime and the spread of HIV-AIDS. Production shifts have also been felt in Northeast India and Laos, and poppy cultivation has increased in smaller areas in Southern Shan State, Northern Karreni, and Kachin and Chin States. Government eradication efforts in the past five years have produced great suffering in opium producing communities; most of them located in the Shan State. SPDC drug eradication projects emphasize the achievement of drug free deadlines for communities and townships. Eradication projects often forcibly relocate communities to lower land but fail to provide them with alternative livelihoods and new infrastructure. 260, 000 households, or an estimated 1.2 million people on the opium zone, are facing starvation and death by treatable disease because of a lack of infrastructure and access to alternative incomes. Opium farmers are also subjected to harsh measures, including extra-judicial killings and unlawful incarceration. Destroyed crops, often the cash mainstay of the local community, are not compensated, leaving already poverty stricken communities to face greater levels of hunger, disease and desperation. These abuses take place in SPDC and United Nations Office of Drugs Crime (UNODC) designated eradication zones. Little is known of the conditions in non-designated areas, although numerous reports claim that drug production continues with the connivance and cooperation of military personnel. This special report argues that cosmetic programs in Burma to curb the activities of narcotics producers mask a process of systemic collusion that seeks the appearance of stability over serious actions. The report outlines the dynamics of the drug trade in Burma, government and international assistance to eradicate drug production and the extent of collusion between government and military figures with narcotics producers. It argues that there is little likelihood that increased international assistance would be beneficial at this time. The United States government has refused to certify the Government of Burma (GOB) as cooperating in narcotics eradication since 1989. This report finds no compelling evidence to increase assistance unless the SPDC takes serious steps to curtail the activities of the major drug producing groups, seeks to limit military involvement in...