CONTROVERSIAL COLLABORATION WITH BURMA’S
JUNTA | HARD-LINE DRUG POLICY RISKS PROMOTION OF HIV EPIDEMICS
Myanmar is the main source of opium and amphetamine tablets in South East Asia and second only to Afghanistan in opium/heroin production.
Most of it is grown in the mountainous Shan state northern Burma which enjoys borders with China, Laos and Thailand providing a multiplicity of trafficking routes. The drug trade has been nurtured and flourished thanks to the long-festering internal conflicts between ethnic minorities, and myriad rebel armies that have rejected military rule from Rangoon.
Traditionally Shan nationalist armies, Kachin, Karenni, and the Wa have all participated in the opium trade either growing, taxing or trafficking ,in order to finance their rebellion against Burmanisation and the heavy hand of Rangoon. However the Burmese generals have not only run a ruthless dictatorship since they seized power back in 1962, but they have also become deeply involved in the drug trade.
In a critical review the UN Opium Survey for 2006,some journalists with excellent sources in the troubled Shan states claim that UNODC’s analysis is deeply flawed and distorted in favour of the Junta’s line on drugs. The UNODC Opium survey observes that ‘ in most areas under full government control, no evidence of (opium poppy) cultivation exists.’ In a rebuttal the Chiangmai-based Shan Herald Agency for News has produced their own counter report showing that the marjority of poppy cultivation is on the contrary, in junta-controlled areas.
During the 1990s the major source of domestic investment flowed from narco-profits that can be traced back to the trade in opium, heroin and amphetamines. In this way the black economy subsidised the nearly bankrupt official economy by setting up shady banks, launching new airlines and funding road contruction. A key man in this nexus of running narcotics operations behind various legitimate business facades is Chinese boss -Wei Hsueh Kang,a commander of the UWSA-the Wa armed group, and at the same a director of the flourishing Hong Pang corporation.
Hong Pang deals in building roads, electronics, DVD records, fruit orchards. .It is clear that it enjoys carte blanche approval from the generals. And it is also equally clear that their capital assets are derived from narco-profits in the Shan state. The UNODC report never mentions these nefarious links between the black economy and official government-backed business.
HARD-LINE DRUG POLICY RISKS PROMOTION OF HIV EPIDEMICS
One of the few successes in dealing with the drug problem in recent years, has been the adoption of harm reduction policies by health authorities as part of the global campaign to prevent the spread of Hiv/Aids. Ensuring the easy access to clean needles for heroin addicts- known as needle-exchange programmes has been shown to be effective. At a recent UN drug conference ,delegates from around the globe stood up to defend the overwhelming evidence that harm reduction measures are effective against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Ton Schmidt, chief coordinator of AHRN-the Asian Harm Reduction Network told Resurgence that ‘for all the progress that has been made the UNODC is still ambiguous on the issue with their policy makers stressing law-enforcement rather than treatment of drug addicts and health prevention.’ Many countries follow the advice given by UNODC and INCB the two UN drug agencies. Schmidt argues ‘ that is why it is important for UNODC to some soul-searching and to recognise that the early stage of HIV epidemic comes from drug uses or sex-workers. ‘
ARHN and public health officials are calling for more harmony between police bodies, anti-drug organisations and their work in harm reduction. “Forcing people who use drugs further underground and into situations where transmission of HIV/AIDS is more likely, and denying them access to life-saving treatment and prevention services is creating a public health disaster”, noted a report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The UNAids agency is very critical of the lack of support from UNODC and its failure to highlight harm reduction and public health priorities.
CONCLUSION
Such are the passions and paranoia aroused by narcotics in many countries, that rationality and science appear to be unwelcome intruders. Politicians exploit these fears to the hilt especially in the US. Columnist Antony Lewis writing in a Boston newspaper commented ‘ Drugs arouse paranoia in politicians. That is why for many decades, drug policy has been immune to examination in the light of reason and experience. ‘
Public health experts and scientists know that blind law-enforcement offers no long-term solutions either for drug addicts,or for drug-afflicted communities in a world awash with heroin, amphetamines and other dangers to the health. The first step to dealing with the global drug problem is to increase honest debate and information about drugs and abandon the propaganda about narcotics in favour of rationality, science and compassion for those who have fallen foul of addiction.
Tom Fawthrop
Journalist/Independent producer
Eureka Films, Thailand
CONTROVERSIAL COLLABORATION WITH BURMA’S
JUNTA | HARD-LINE DRUG POLICY RISKS PROMOTION OF HIV EPIDEMICS
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