Opium production in ‘Golden Triangle’ increasing, says UN agency

BANGKOK: Opium poppy cultivation in Myanmar and Laos rose to 63,800 hectares  in 2014 compared to 61,200 hectares in 2013, increasing for the eighth consecutive year and nearly triple the amount harvested in 2006, according to a new UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report released today.

The UNODC report, “Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2014 – Lao PDR, Myanmar,” said that Myanmar remains Southeast Asia’s top opium producer – and the world’s second largest after Afghanistan.  Together, Myanmar and Laos produced an estimated 762 metric tons (MT) of opium, most of which – using smuggled precursor chemicals like acetyl anhydride – was refined into a estimated 76 MT of heroin and then trafficked to markets in neighboring countries and outside the region.