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Article: Thailand is breaking its opium-growing addiction.(The Dallas Morning News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- April 29, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. 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)
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NONG HOI, Thailand _ The hills around Nong Hoi used to shimmer with pink-and-white blossoms, 250 acres of opium poppies swaying in the sultry breeze.
"Growing opium was the only way we knew how to make money," said Suphot Techalertpana, 25, who followed in the poppy-farming footsteps of his father and grandfather from a tender age.
Then, in the mid-1980s, representatives of a crop-substitution program sponsored by Thailand's royal family arrived in this poor northern village. Slowly, they persuaded Suphot's family and others to plant vegetables instead of poppies.
"We started earning more money from carrots than opium, so we started growing ...