press briefing by United Nations office on drugs, crime

 

The end was in sight for the 100-year-old opium trade in the “Golden Triangle” of Myanmar, Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand, Vincent McClean, New York representative of the Vienna-based United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing to launch the 2004 Opium Survey on Myanmar.

Pointing out that opium cultivation in Myanmar had declined by 29 per cent during 2004 over the figures for 2003, he said a parallel decrease of 45 per cent in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic meant that sustained reduction efforts could result in only pockets of the crop remaining in the region, where Myanmar was now “a poor second”, behind the largest producer, Afghanistan.  Last year, Myanmar had produced 370 tons of opium, down 54 per cent from 2002, while Afghanistan had produced more than 3,000 tons last year, or 80 per cent of the world supply.

He said security was of particular concern in Afghanistan since the key to halting opium reduction was two-fold:  to enforce the prohibition, with local authorities both committed to the effort and having the means to carry it out; and to provide alternative livelihoods.  Those efforts had led to encouraging numbers in Myanmar.  Cultivation this season was estimated at 44,200 hectares, down by 73 per cent from its height of 163,000 hectares in 1996.  The “farm-gate” value was about $87 million.  Partly because of the decreased supply, the price of opium had risen 80 per cent in 2004 to an average of $234 per kilo, as compared to $130 in 2003.  Approximately 230 tons of the 270-ton crop would be sold and the rest would be either stored or used for medication since the country had virtually no social services and diseases like HIV/AIDS were rampant.

The dramatic decrease in production was a result of concerted efforts by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Myanmar Government, he said.  The survey showed that 260,000 households had been involved in producing opium in the past year.  Most of them lived in remote, mountainous and isolated areas where the crop was often the primary or only source of income, bringing in an average of $214 a year.  Because of alternative-income efforts such as the WFP’s crop-substitution programmes, the average income of non-opium producing households had been 30 per cent higher than that of opium producers.

Mr. McClean said that besides backing the efforts of the Drugs and Crime Office, the Government of Myanmar had taken national enforcement measures, working with other governments, including those of China and Thailand, to limit trafficking and distribution.  It had also lent staff to administer Drugs and Crime Office programmes and had provided assistance with manual eradication of the crop.  Sustaining the decrease was the challenge now because the higher prices resulting from the reduced supply might give farmers a new incentive to resume cultivation.

Asked how the decrease could be sustained, he replied by citing stability, peace, law and order as well as an end to poverty.  Opium was “the crop of last resort”.  In non-producing areas, the addiction rate was 0.2 per cent of the population, while in producing areas that figure rose to 2.2 per cent.  Visits to producing areas showed young men idle and young girls working in brothels on both sides of national borders.  It was a downward spiral that could end with assistance to villages based on consultations with their people and respect for their views.

* *** *