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Thailand's other weapons against
drugs
By James Emery
"We used
to grow opium," said Asoupa, a Lisu farmer in northwest
Thailand, "but now we only grow cabbages and corn and
other crops. It's better. If we grow opium, we get in
trouble and lose everything." Asoupa represents the
country's once-primary opium growers, the hill tribes of
northwest Thailand - the Lisu, Lahu, Akha, Mein and
Hmong. Living in remote jungle villages, they practice
slash-and-burn agriculture.
The Royal Thai
Government (RTG), in cooperation with the United States'
Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and United Nations
International Drug Control Program (UNDCP), combined
aggressive eradication and interdiction with flexible,
alternative crop programs to encourage poverty-ridden
hill tribes to abandon opium in favor of legal "cash
crops", including cabbages, tomatoes, mung beans,
peaches, strawberries, and Arabica coffee.
Thailand's official ban on opium cultivation
began in 1959. The early alternative-crop programs were
plagued with problems, from insects to fluctuating
market prices. The hill tribes couldn't compete with
lowland farmers who got significantly better yields, and
the lack of roads into tribal areas made it difficult to
get crops to market.
The combination of improved
market access, viable alternative crops, and harsh
penalties encouraged most hill-tribe villages to abandon
opium. The alternative-crop program in Thailand has been
so successful that the United Nations was able to
curtail direct support, since most village economies now
revolve around legal crops and are no longer in need of
assistance.
The current opium crop, harvested
during December and January, marks the fourth successive
year the opium harvest in Thailand was estimated to be
less than 1,000 hectares. By comparison, opium
cultivation in Myanmar has ranged from 80,000 to 170,000
hectares in the past 10 years.
While Thailand
was initiating its eradication programs, Myanmar
continued to produce up to 2,500 tons of opium annually.
Much of it was refined into No 4 grade heroin, about 90
percent pure. To stifle the flow of drugs out of
Myanmar, the RTG organized Task Force 399. Composed of
several hundred Thai military personnel and border
guards, and supported by an extensive intelligence
network, Task Force 399 snares drug smugglers as they
enter Thailand. In an effort to circumvent the task
force, some smugglers are traveling from Myanmar to Laos
before attempting to enter Thailand.
Aggressive
operations by the Border Patrol Police, Royal Thai Army
Third Region Command, and Task Force 399 finally caused
many drug smugglers to avoid Thailand altogether and
seek alternative routes out of Myanmar.
"A lot
of heroin is being shipped through China," said William
Snipes, regional director with the DEA in Bangkok. "Part
of it is feeding a growing addict population in China,
but much of it is shipped on to Western markets." The
UNDCP estimates that 60 percent of Myanmar's opiate
production is now shipped through China.
To
monitor drug traffickers, the United States and RTG
established three separate intelligence-gathering
modules. Each center collects information on drug
activity and trafficking for its respective geographic
region. Information is combined and analyzed to respond
to immediate opportunities, feed ongoing investigations,
and predict future activity.
On the operational
side, the DEA has four specially trained units that
target specific operations and geographic areas of
interest on land and sea. Thailand has the death penalty
for drug smugglers and authorizes the forfeiture of
criminal proceeds through the seizure of bank accounts
and other assets. The RTG has been very cooperative in
fulfilling extradition requests of drug dealers for
criminal prosecution in other countries.
While
Thai authorities have been successful in eradicating the
indigenous opium crop and intercepting heroin shipments
coming from Myanmar, they have been plagued by a growing
problem with amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS),
primarily methamphetamine. Methamphetamine pills, called
yaba in Thailand, have been around for decades.
About 800 million methamphetamine pills were
smuggled into Thailand during the past year. Virtually
all of the production takes place in Myanmar and is
smuggled across the border into Thailand, with some
shipments being routed through Laos. The Wa and the Shan
tribes are the primary players in the meth trade, just
as they have been in the opium and heroin trade.
Initially used by truck drivers and workers to
stay awake and increase stamina, usage of the drug among
young Thais began increasing around 1988 as they copied
the habits of dancers, a few locals, and tourists in
Patpong and other entertainment areas. Ten years later,
methamphetamine abuse was rampant, driven by increased
supplies and falling prices. Methamphetamine
investigations in Thailand increased from 1,025 in 1988
to a staggering 125,335 by 1998. There were 187,479
cases during 2001.
Eventually, methamphetamine
made its way into schools, cutting across social and
economic boundaries, and the Thai government declared it
the No 1 security and social threat. The rise of
methamphetamine also caused a surge in the number of
polydrug users, individuals abusing more than one drug.
The volume of ecstasy entering Thailand began to
increase about 1998, but its manufacture in the
Netherlands kept its price steep and supply limited, a
deterrent to Thai youth. The club scene, however,
including raves frequented by Western tourists, has
fueled recent growth of this ATS. The seizure of ecstasy
imported from Europe has increased more than sixfold in
the past four years. Ecstasy is now being manufactured
in Southeast Asia, lowering the price and increasing
availability.
A sign of the growing drug problem
and expanded efforts by Thai authorities is the number
of Thais in jail. "The prison population in Thailand has
doubled in the last five years," said Douglas Rasmussen
with the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement (INL) at the US Embassy in Bangkok. "Over 60
percent are for drug issues."
To combat the
growing use of methamphetamines, Thai authorities,
assisted by US government officials, significantly
changed their approach to the drug trade. The RTG
broadened their scope from eradication and interdiction
to demand reduction through education, prevention, and
rehabilitation programs.
"The Thais are using a
multifaceted approach to combat the drug trade," said
Rasmussen. "They realize you can't just go after the
supply side, you have to go after the demand side too."
A number of agencies were established to provide
training programs in drug counseling and drug prevention
for school teachers and community outreach workers
throughout Thailand. A joint effort by the DEA and Thai
officials set up a successful DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program based on the US model.
"Approximately 130 Thai police officers conduct drug
awareness classes in middle and high schools," said
Snipes. "The Thais are very concerned about
methamphetamine going down into the younger ages."
The RTG established community anti-drug centers
throughout Thailand, including one in Klum Tay, a
notorious Bangkok slum. "We must educate the younger
generation," said a Thai police official, "and this will
carry on because they will educate their children." Thai
actors and musicians have become involved in the
campaign.
The Thai Ministry of Public Health
dramatically increased the number of drug-treatment
centers, and today there are more than 500 treatment
centers, ranging from public and private hospitals to
drug-rehab clinics. Since methamphetamine treatment is
different than heroin, and requires more family support,
drug centers have modified and expanded their programs
to address specific needs.
Since 1999, most
people seeking treatment in Thailand have been addicted
to methamphetamines. As recently as 1995, heroin (90
percent) and opium (5 percent) addicts accounted for 95
percent of the treatment population.
To help
fight drugs on a regional level, the International Law
Enforcement Academy (ILEA) of Bangkok opened in 1999
under the direction of the INL. The curriculum covers
everything from narcotics trafficking and money
laundering to computer crime and illegal migration.
Courses are taught by the Royal Thai Police and Office
of Narcotics Control Board in conjunction with
representatives of several United States government
agencies. Experts are brought in from around the world,
including the Netherlands, Australia, and Taiwan.
Police and government officials from Thailand,
Cambodia, China, Laos, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines attend the
academy. "One of our objectives," said Luis
Diaz-Rodriguez with INL, "is to build cooperation
between branches of law enforcement, both within and
between these countries. We hope to have alumni that
will assist each other in investigations and exchange
information between themselves and their US
counterparts."
In addition to the ILEA, the
United Nations Drug Control Office in Bangkok has
developed a Regional Cooperation Program with Thailand,
Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. "The
regional program complements a number of different
country level projects," said Vincent McClean, formerly
with the UNDCP Bangkok office. "It also encourages
cooperation between members by bringing them together
for joint training and discussion." McClean is currently
the director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime (UNODC) in New York.
The proliferation of
new drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy, combined
with the devastating impact of heroin, cocaine, and
other narcotics, can best be controlled through
interagency cooperation at the regional and global
level.
At one time, many transit countries -
that is, countries through which drugs were transported
on their way to more lucrative markets - didn't consider
the drug trade to be a serious problem. That changed
when the "bleed" effect, drugs dealt along transit
routes, caused them to have a growing population of
addicts, and the secondary problems of crime, AIDS, and
corruption of police officers and public officials.
Developing interagency operations such as those
run by the United Nations, DEA, and INL facilitates
regional cooperation. These programs provide education
and incentive to discourage people from using drugs,
help for those already addicted, and a flexible,
cooperative web of law-enforcement and regulatory
agencies that apprehend drug dealers and eliminate
smuggling operations.
James Emery is
an anthropologist and journalist who has covered the
Asian drug trade for more than 15 years. He has traveled
extensively, including trips to Thailand, Myanmar, and
China to obtain information and interviews for this
article.
(©2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd.
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