Golden Triangle: Chemical firms, casinos targeted in battle against synthetic drugs

Myanmar faces a different threat even as it tries to cut opium crop

In 2014, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime started a programme to help farmers in Myanmar's Shan state switch from growing opium to coffee, to curb the flourishing narcotics trade.
A nursery for coffee seedlings in Hopong, Myanmar's Shan state. The villagers used to grow opium until a UN programme helped them to make the switch to coffee.
A nursery for coffee seedlings in Hopong, Myanmar's Shan state. The villagers used to grow opium until a UN programme helped them to make the switch to coffee. ST PHOTO: TAN HUI YEE
Coffee seedlings. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime in 2014 started a programme that helped Myanmar opium farmers grow and market premium coffee.
Coffee seedlings. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime in 2014 started a programme that helped Myanmar opium farmers grow and market premium coffee. ST PHOTO: TAN HUI YEE
Tan Hui Yee Indochina Bureau Chief In Hopong (Shan State) Myanmar
Updated
May 28, 2018, 02:58 PM
Published
May 28, 2018, 05:00 AM
New: Gift this subscriber-only story to your friends and family

Mobile phone signals peter off in the homesteads of Hopong township, reached by gravel-lined roads chiselled into the steep Myanmar mountainside.

Opium used to be a cash crop in this area until the locals received global aid to grow coffee.

Already a subscriber? 

Read the full story and more at $9.90/month

Get exclusive reports and insights with more than 500 subscriber-only articles every month

ST One Digital

 $9.90/month

No contract

ST app access on 1 mobile device

Subscribe now

Unlock these benefits

  • All subscriber-only content on ST app and straitstimes.com

  • Easy access any time via ST app on 1 mobile device

  • E-paper with 2-week archive so you won't miss out on content that matters to you

Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 28, 2018, with the headline Golden Triangle: Chemical firms, casinos targeted in battle against synthetic drugs. Subscribe

Available for
iPhones and iPads
Available in
Google Play

MCI (P) 066/10/2023. Published by SPH Media Limited, Co. Regn. No. 202120748H. Copyright © 2024 SPH Media Limited. All rights reserved.

Back to the top