Drug Economics in Burma’s New Political Order

Drug prohibition has not been successful at stopping the production of opium or keeping foreign governments from being corrupted. Burma remains the world’s second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan, and processed 330 metric tonnes, or 17 per cent, of last year’s world supply, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2010 World Drug Report. Poppy cultivation has also been on a steady incline for the past three years.