Myanmar is seeing a boom in opium production as its farmers turn to the cash crop out of desperation. The country has now surpassed Afghanistan as the world's leading producer of the narcotic amid an ongoing civil war.
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00:00 Farmers in Myanmar work among the flowers. These poppies are a lifeline here in the country's borderlands.
00:07 The poppy resin is sold to armed gangs and ethnic militias who refine it into heroin
00:35 and sell it on the international market. 40 kilograms will net around 4,500 US dollars.
00:43 But the same way in processed heroin sells for nearly 3 million US dollars.
00:49 Last year, Myanmar overtook Afghanistan as the world's leading producer of opium.
01:05 After the military seized power in 2021, the country descended into civil war. In the economic
01:11 and social turmoil that followed, opium has become an essential cash crop. The country
01:18 produced over 1,000 metric tons of it in 2023. Unlike corn, the market for heroin is thriving.
01:45 In the US alone, heroin use has spiked since 2013. An average of 900,000 people in the
01:52 country use it annually, and upwards of 14,000 of them will die in an overdose. The demand
01:59 for heroin has brought cash into Myanmar, providing a lifeline for farmers and funding
02:04 for the militia groups fighting the ruling military junta.
02:33 Whether in Afghanistan or Myanmar, the opium industry has proven particularly viable during
02:38 wartime. Its cultivation helps put food on farmers' tables, but also provides funds
02:44 to prolong conflicts and fuel the multi-billion dollar trade in narcotics.
02:50 Justin Wu and Bryn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.
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