Thailand opium eradication effort still a model for other nations

[webfact]

Thailand Opium Eradication Effort Still a Model for Other Nations
Lien Hoang

CHIANG RAI, THAILAND — As a child, Sopon Ayi sometimes went hungry when his father squandered the family’s money to feed his opium addiction. Sopon, now 29, is convinced he wouldn’t have gone to school, his father would still be miserable, and their village would be unsafe if they hadn’t given up the drug.

“Doi Tung had a lot of opium in the past,” Sopon said, referring to the village. “Almost everybody in my father’s generation was addicted to opium.”

Sopon, a coffee farmer, lives where Thailand meets Myanmar and Laos, an intersection that was the erstwhile capital of the global opium trade. The Thai royal family touts this region as a poster child for drug eradication, once at the heart of the notorious Golden Triangle but now, at least on the Thai side of the border, mostly opium-free.

The royal Doi Tung Development Project, which helped Thais like Sopon find jobs outside the poppy business, seems to have stood the test of time.

-- Voice of America 2015-12-16

[ezzra]

opium eradication?? Bravo Thailand... opium was the drug of the 19th century, now go eradicate and do the

same for what has replced opium, namely Ya Baa, Ice and cocaine....

[Reigntax]

But the dopes are here to stay

[4jasmin]

Have a close look to this Area, maybe you will understand, why they still live there like 50 or 100 Years ago

https://www.google.de/maps/place/Doi+Tung,+Huai+Khrai,+Mae+Sai+District,+Chiang+Rai+57130,+Thailand/@20.3261099,99.8169348,9z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x30d6f6bd5be0ad61:0x1dc4ef4fcac51f9d!5m1!1e4!6m1!1e1

click on Earth on the Map - indeed, Doi Tung had a lot of opium in the past

Edited December 16, 2015 by 4jasmin

[Reigntax]

Thailand opinion eradication effort. A role model for all junta governments.

[NongKhaiKid]

Little Boy Blue come blow your horn.

[Morakot]

Even with opium mostly out of the picture, Thailand is still addicted to drugs. Douglas said it has one of the biggest markets for methamphetamine in the world, at least one billion pills a year but likely much more. Thailand's Office of the Narcotics Control Board reflects the fact that the drug problem hasn't disappeared.

"Other drugs such as morphine and heroin rapidly took place of opium," the board's website says, "especially heroin which was easy to consume and easy to avoid detection and suppression."

http://www.globalsecurity.org/security/library/news/2015/12/sec-151215-voa02.htm

Edited December 16, 2015 by Morakot

[Ks45672]

Opium lol, what about the drugs that cause thousands of deaths per week? the alcohol and the meth are much bigger problems that need tackled

[h90]

So where is the advantage if Opium is replaced with Amphetamines and Alcohol?

Well different people get the profit.

And the father didn't use all the money because the Opium is so expensive. He used it because it was made artificial expensive. Opium virtually costs nothing, like homebrew alcohol.

What to do with narcotics is a very difficult question, but celebrating that there is no opium to smoke anymore is plain silly.

[bangon04]

"Thailand Opium Eradication Effort Still a Model for Other Nations"

yes if you can flood the market with methamphetamines at lower cost, you can eradicate the market for opium in the cities.

[lvr181]

Simplistic and somewhat hollow statement.

Now, if the same could be done for other modern drugs, alcohol and corruption then truly this would be a tremendous achievement. But.............

[LannaGuy]

Thailand the hub of eradicating opium

[DrTuner]

They should bring back the dens, interesting concept. Better than taking a bottle of yaba and hopping in to drive a minivan.

[zyphodb]

Everyone has already made the point that I was going to make, the farmers could fund their opium addiction very easily as they all grew it, but how do they fund the replacement addiction to Yabba & who is all that money going to? I'm sure we all know the answer to that one but best not mention it on here...