|
|
Article: One last harvest; Myanmar.(Myanmar's opium)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- February 12, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
A ban on opium will leave millions of farmers without livelihoods
BAO YOU XIANG looks nothing like a drug lord. His neatly combed hair and the well-ironed creases in his trousers do not suggest a man with his own rebel army numbering 20,000, and control over 400,000 opium farmers. For the moment, though, that is still exactly what he is. But it is a part he plans to stop playing in the next few months.
The supreme leader of Myanmar's Wa Special Region No. 2 will is allowing his farmers one last harvest--just getting under way--of opium poppies before enforcing an absolute ban on the drug, its cultivation, sale and consumption. After this year, he insists ...