Inside Myanmar’s Soaring Heroin Trade

Poppyland (2016): The heroin trade has long fuelled Myanmar’s civil war. For some, opium provides a roaring illicit income; for others, a modest farming job. But even with the war slowing down, the drug trade shows no sign of abating in Myanmar. For similar stories, see: How Myanmar’s Partisan Astrologers Could Swing An Election Are the TNLA A Threat To Peace In Myanmar? The Economic Boom Powering Myanmar’s Development “If I didn’t do this work, I would have no other source of income“, explains a poppy farmer in a remote village. Myanmar’s opium cultivation is now the second largest in the world after Afghanistan, with an abundant local trade. “Most of our village want to make the switch to farming coffee“, says Panu, one of the first adopters of a UN backed coffee program.