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Methamphetamine use in Myanmar, Thailand, and Southern China: assessing practices, reducing harms
Over the past decade, methamphetamine use has grown more popular in Myanmar, Thailand and Southern China. Based on in-depth interviews conducted with individuals who use methamphetamine, this briefing sheds light on the importance of promoting an environment that reinforces, rather than undermines, the ability of people who use methamphetamine to regulate their drug use, preserve their health and adopt safer practices.
Download the briefing (PDF)
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Downward Spiral
Banning Opium in Afghanistan and Burma
Opium farmers in Afghanistan and Burma are coming under huge pressure as local authorities implement bans on the cultivation of poppy. Banning opium has an immediate and profound impact on the livelihoods of more than 4 million people. These bans are a response to pressure from the international community. Afghan and Burmese authorities alike are urging the international community to accompany their pressure with substantial aid.
Download the briefing (PDF)
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Guiding Drug Law Reform in Myanmar
A legal analysis of the Draft Bill amending 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law
A draft bill amending Myanmar 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law was published in newspapers in March 2017 for public consultation. It was subsequently discussed in the upper house of Parliament (Amyothar Hluttaw) on 16 August 2017. The draft bill introduces important changes to Myanmar drug law. Most significantly, it intends to place public health at the heart of the country’s drug control strategy, and lengthy prison penalties for drug use have been eliminated to facilitate access to health services for drug users. This is a positive improvement and must be applauded as a progressive measure. Nevertheless, the draft bill also contains a number of shortfalls that could be addressed with a few basic, although fundamental, adjustments.
Download the paper (PDF)
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'Found in the Dark'
The Impact of Drug Law Enforcement Practices in Myanmar
To address its serious drug use problems, Myanmar should change its drug policy towards a harm reduction approach. Instead of a repressive approach, voluntary and evidence-based treatment and public health services, including harm reduction, should be made available and become generally accepted by enforcement officials and by the community at large. Myanmar has very strict drug laws and policies, and its legal framework emphasises harsh sentences and the criminalisation of drug users rather than providing access to health and harm reduction services. This report highlights the impact of current drug law enforcement practices in Myanmar and illustrates why a change in drug legislation and policy is necessary.
Download the report (PDF) | In Burmese
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Will Myanmar’s economy ever kick its opium habit?
Poppy fields are here to stay; "if we don’t grow it, we don’t eat", say its impoverished farmers
A recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimates Myanmar had 55,000 hectares of poppies under cultivation in 2015, most of it in Shan State. Some say that is a conservative estimate and place the figure at closer to 160,000 hectares. "Most farmers grow it because of poverty," says Tom Kramer, a researcher for the Netherlands’ Transnational Institute who has been visiting Myanmar regularly since 1993. "They grow poppy as a cash crop to address food shortages and to access health and education." (See also: Bouncing Back - Relapse in the Golden Triangle)
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Current State of Counternarcotics Policy and Policy Reform Debates in Myanmar
This paper explores the current state of counternarcotics policy and policy reform debates in Myanmar. It analyzes the main trends in drug production, trafficking, and consumption, and assesses the key harms and threats these pose to the country. The paper will provide an overview of Myanmar’s current drug policies and related legislative framework, and assess whether these are effective in addressing the drug-related problems in the country.
Download the paper (PDF)
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Bouncing Back
Relapse in the Golden Triangle
TNI's indepth examination of the illegal drug market in the Golden Triangle, which has witnessed a doubling of opium production, growing prison populations and repression of small-scale farmers. This report details the failure of ASEAN's 'drug free' strategy and the need for a new approach.
Bouncing Back - complete report (pdf, 4.6MB)
Chapter Alternative Development (pdf, 1.37MB)
Chapter Harm Reduction (pdf, 1.59MB)
Chapter Conflict, Crime and Corruption (pdf, 1.42MB)
Chapter Conclusions (pdf, 1.07MB)First Southeast Asia Opium Farmers Forum
In July 2013 TNI and Paung Ku organised the First Southeast Asia Opium Farmers Forum, bringing together some 30 representatives of local communities involved in opium cultivation and local community workers from the major opium growing regions in Southeast Asia: Chin, Kachin, northern and southern Shan, and Kayah States in Burma/Myanmar and Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India.
Current drug control polices in the region are repressive and criminalise opium farmers, and have greatly affect the lives of the communities cultivating opium. However, until now these communities have had little or no influence on the design of these policies. Aim of the forum was to identify the main concerns of opium farmers and formulate alternative policy options that respect the rights of producers’ communities, and involve them in decision making processes.
Financing Dispossession - China’s Opium Substitution Programme in Northern Burma
China’s opium crop substitution programme has very little to do with providing mechanisms to decrease reliance on poppy cultivation or provide alternative livelihoods for ex-poppy growers. Financing dispossession is not development.
Download the report (PDF)
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Drugs in the News
- Cannabis cafés and self-growing: Czechia presents draft of new marijuana law
11.01.2024 - Minister signs bill banning recreational use of weed
08.01.2024 - As the mayor of Amsterdam, I can see the Netherlands risks becoming a narco-state
05.01.2024 - Barcelona city council threatens to shut down cannabis social clubs
04.01.2024 - Swiss capital Bern considers legal cocaine project
20.12.2023 - High time: after five years, Dutch start legal cannabis trial
15.12.2023
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