Illicit Drug use in the Asia Pacific Region - Burnet Institute

Situational analysis of illicit drug issues and responses in the Asia–Pacific region
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Estimating the production of amphetaminetype
substances (ATS) is more difficult due to
the clandestine nature of their manufacture
and lack of treatment services tailored to
amphetamine users . However, it is thought that
amphetamine production continues to rise in
Myanmar, particularly in the Wa region and
Southern Shan State (Bezziccheri & Bazant,
2004) . Amphetamine production boomed in
1996 when a number of methamphetamine
laboratories moved into Myanmar from
Thailand and China . The Thai Army accuses
Myanmar of having about 30 amphetamine
processing factories in operation along its
shared border areas (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2002a) .
While local consumption of illicit drugs in
Myanmar has increased over recent years, the
majority of drugs produced in the region is
destined for other markets . It is estimated
that 20 per cent of the heroin available in
the United States of America originated in
Myanmar (United States Department of
State, Bureau for International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs, 2004) .
Traditionally China, India and Thailand have
served as transit countries for Burmese drugs
to be shipped to markets in Europe, Australia
and America . However, growing local demand
for drugs in these countries has seen rapidly
expanding markets in the areas bordering
Myanmar . The supply chains that have
developed to feed the local markets appear
to be less formalised and more dispersed
than the international trafficking routes
(Transnational Institute, 2003) . The trade
of ATS across the border into Thailand has
also raised considerable attention and caused
political unease between the two countries .
With leadership from UNODC, Myanmar has
recently developed a joint action plan with
China, Laos and Thailand to increase efforts
to suppress the trafficking of precursor
chemicals and equipment used in producing
ATS along common borders . This plan reflects
the increasing trade of precursor chemicals in
the region (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2005) .
Arrest and seizure data
Data on seizures of both precursor chemicals
and amphetamine tablets from Myanmar also
suggest rapid growth in production within
Myanmar . Table A9 .1 shows that seizures
increased rapidly from 1996 with a peak in
2001 followed by a slight reduction over the
subsequent two years .
Table A9 .1 . Seizures of illicit drugs in Myanmar, 1996–2003
Year Opium (kg) Heroin (kg)
ATS
(million tablets)
Precursor
chemicals (litre)
1996 1300 504 5 .9 23,234
1997 7884 1401 5 .0 78,402
1998 5394 403 16 .0 85,557
1999 1473 245 28 .8 57,018
2000 1528 158 26 .7 86,755
2001 1629 296 32 .4 174,191
2002 1863 333 9 .3 26,440
2003 1481 568 4 .0 36,903
A reduction in heroin production is also
suggested by a consistent decline in the
number of heroin laboratories destroyed
and the number of heroin seizures by law
enforcement over the past decade . Heroin
seizures reported by CCDAC have steadily decreased
from 2234 cases in 1990 to 986 cases
in 2003, while the number of laboratories
destroyed has decreased from 33 to 7 over
the same period (Central Committee for Drug
Abuse Control, 2002) .
In 2003, 2625 people were arrested on drugrelated
charges in Myanmar . Of these, 196
were not charged or were acquitted, the
remainder were punished with sentences
ranging from treatment orders to life
imprisonment or death . In 2004, 16 people
(14 male and 2 female) were executed for
crimes related to drugs (Central Committee
for Drug Abuse Control, 2002) .
Crop eradication statistics
Myanmar commenced the New Destiny
Project in 2002 with the explicit goal of
total opium eradication by 2015 . CCDAC
reported that 2820 hectares of opium crops
were eradicated in Myanmar in 2004, representing
a 300 per cent increase in eradication
from the 2003 season (CCDAC, 2004) . The
most significant eradication was in Southern
Shan State where 2170 hectares were eradicated;
172 hectares were eradicated from the
Northern Shan State, which was a significant
reduction from 2003 . The reduction in eradication
was due to ‘voluntary’ abandonment
of poppy cultivation enforced by local leaders
in line with their commitment to eradicate
opium cultivation by April 2005 .
A9 .4 Drug-taking practices,
risk factors and trends
As opium becomes less available, a number of
new trends are emerging among drug users in
Myanmar . Several reports have highlighted the
shift toward heroin use and the rapid uptake
of injecting as the preferred method of administration
(Aung, 2003; Birgin, 2004) .
The greatest risk associated with IDU in
Myanmar is HIV . It is estimated that there are
between 541,100 and 832,900 people living
with HIV in Myanmar, or about 1 in every 29
adults (Beyrer et al ., 2003) . Studies attribute
30 per cent of all HIV cases in Myanmar to IDU
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2002a) .
HIV prevalence rates among IDUs in Myanmar
are among the highest in the world . Sentinel
prevalence studies and studies of IDUs at drug
treatment centres show HIV prevalences of
50–90 per cent (Birgin, 2004; Central Committee
for Drug Abuse Control, 2002; Doradjee
& Htet Doe, 2002) . This, coupled with the
high mobility, high imprisonment rates and
needle sharing among IDUs, all point to a
continually expanding HIV epidemic .
Needle sharing is the norm in Myanmar . Factors
such as poor access to clean needles and
poor knowledge about HIV risks lead many
IDUs to sharing their injecting equipment .
Studies show that, as services to drug users
such as needle and syringe programs increase,
needle sharing is decreasing; but even with
the increased availability of services to IDUs
in Myanmar, the majority (66%) of users still
report sharing needles (Doradjee & Htet Doe,
2002) .
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Country profiles: Myanmar