Country prepares for new poppy war
Drug agencies are gearing up for a new offensive against criminal gangs still farming the plant, writes King-oua Laohong
Far from the bustle of booming Chiang Mai, pockets of poppies are still being cultivated in the remote hills of this northern province, defying years of intensive efforts to eradicate them. Periodically, drug enforcement officials backed by foreign powers sweep through the area, but never seem to win the battle.
The officials close in on a farm and begin slashing away at the opium plants after having trudged for miles through rugged terrain along the northern hills to locate the latest poppy growing areas. Their target is Ban Huai Bong in Omkoi district, which produces the largest amount of opium.
When they complete their task, they move on to the next farm. But the problem is, there is always a “next farm” in these isolated valleys.
Poppies carpeted the hills of the North until eradication efforts led by Western countries, and royal projects under his Majesty the King, introduced financial incentives to switch to farming vegetables and flowers. The poppy farms grew fewer and fewer, but the culture of growing the multi-hued plant remained.
Poppy farming is mostly the preserve of ethnic Karen groups who live in the highlands along the extensive mountainous border in the North.
The Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) is making renewed efforts to wipe out the opium trade at its root by eradicating poppy farming in tandem with the introduction of royally-initiated development projects for ethnic minorities.
ONCB secretary-general Narong Ratananukun said the authorities decided to launch a crackdown on poppy farms before the next harvest season to choke off the supply of illicit poppy latex.
When the poppy plants are uprooted, cash crops are introduced under the various projects to encourage the highlanders to turn their attention to legal farming that can generate a steady income for their families.
According to the ONCB, raw opium derived from the poppy latex now fetches between 84,000 baht and 105,000 baht/kg compared to 500-600 baht/kg in 1979.
Despite mass eradication efforts over the course of a decade back in the late 1960s, many hilltribe people clung to their poppy farms. The onslaught of slashing and burning severely eroded the supplies of latex to make heroin, causing the price of the drug on the streets to skyrocket, and causing the cultivation of poppy to soar once again.
Various royal development projects were established at that time, in part to counteract the re-emergence of poppy farms, in the highland villages.
Once again, Mr Narong said, poppy cultivation is re-emerging in the North as the plant itself contains natural narcotic properties which can be consumed unprocessed.
“If we let suppression of opium slip, the farming of illicit poppy will come back [in greater force] and the situation will be far worse than in the past because modern agricultural technology can be adopted to aid poppy cultivation,” he said.
In recent times, many poppy growers have acquired extensive knowledge about the specific nature of the plant, enabling them to prolong the cultivation period and improve yields. They have learned to pick quality poppy seeds for re-generating the plant with healthy yields, and select much more fertile areas for growing.
Furrow planting and water and fertiliser feeding with sprinklers are being applied to poppy farming.
Mr Narong said most of the poppy farms are situated deep in the forest or in outlying valleys surrounded by terrain that can be quite treacherous. The dense geographical features help protect the farms from aerial inspection and suppression by authorities.
The crop areas are small and dispersed, making them difficult to spot with satellites.
The ONCB has been collecting new data since August and it indicates that there are a total of 2,805 poppy fields covering almost 2,000 rai of land, mostly in the North.
Most farms are located in remote areas of Chiang Mai’s Omkoi, Chiang Dao, Wiang Haeng and Mae Chaem districts; Tak’s Phop Phra, Sam Ngao and Mae Ramat districts; and Mae Hong Son’s Pai district.
The largest poppy fields are found in the provincial border district of Omkoi adjacent to Mae Ramat and Tha Song Yang districts of Tak.
Col Jarintharat Naksanit, of the 3rd Army Region’s narcotics prevention and suppression centre, said over the past four years about 700 rai of land in Omkoi district has been turned into small-scale poppy farms. The highlanders tend to move to new areas for growing the plant after each harvest.
As most of the poppy farms are located in dense forest and valleys, the authorities must pinpoint their locations by helicopter before setting out on a raid. Despite advance scouting, the opium suppression teams often fail to reach the fields after becoming lost in the forests.
When some of the teams eventually find the fields, there are no farmers to catch.
“It is easy to distinguish poppy fields from normal farmland because the pods will be gleaming in the daylight. But when we arrive at the fields, the growers have fled,” Col Jarintharat said.
Pipop Chamnivikaipong, director of the Narcotic Crops Survey & Monitoring Institute, said opium was outlawed in Thailand in 1959 leading to the closure of opium smoking dens which were widespread, particularly in Bangkok.
He said an ONCB survey in 1985 found 54,000 rai of poppy farms in 12 provinces. The figure has now dropped to about 2,000 rai.
“The main reason for the return of poppy cultivation is due to the belief that law enforcement has become lax. The current government has also been putting its efforts into the suppression of methamphetamine pills,” Mr Pipop said.
Most poppy farms, he said, were financed by businesses which hire minority ethnic groups to run the farms.
Also, the fight against poppy cultivation in Myanmar had forced many people there to move to farms over the border in Thailand, resulting in a 10% increase in the country’s poppy fields.
As for the latest suppression efforts, Mr Pipop said the authorities are dividing their combat missions into three zones of red, yellow and green, depending on the size of the poppy farms they uncover.
In the red zones, the poppy farms cover 100 rai of land or larger, located in Omkoi, Tha Song Yang and Mae Ramat districts. These fields are guarded by ethnic armed forces and so the crackdown will be overseen by well-equipped military forces.
The yellow zones are in Chiang Dao, Mae Taeng, Phop Phra and Umphang districts where each poppy field covers 50 to 100 rai. The planned raids on them will be supervised by the ONCB.
The green zones are poppy fields of smaller than 50 rai and suppression will be the responsibility of local administrative agencies.
Even though there only about 2,000 rai of opium fields in Thailand these days, Mr Pipop warned the government must remain vigilant.
“Although Myanmar and Thailand successfully wiped out poppy fields in the Golden Triangle, latex obtained from poppies which escaped the crackdowns in recent years will still be sufficient for heroin production for at least a decade,” Mr Pipop added.
If we let suppression of opium fall by the wayside, the farming of the illicit poppy will come back [in great force] and the situation will be far worse than in the past.
NARONG RATANANUKUN
SECRETARY-GENERAL, OFFICE OF THE NARCOTICS CONTROL BOARD