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Viewing cable 05RANGOON1439, BURMA: 2005 INCSR PART I - DRUGS AND CHEMICAL

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
05RANGOON1439 2005-12-23 05:41 2011-08-25 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Rangoon
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

230541Z Dec 05
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 09 RANGOON 001439 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS AND INL; DEA FOR OILS AND OFFICE OF 
DIVERSION CONTROL; USPACOM FOR FPA; TREASURY FOR FINCEN; 
JUSTICE FOR OIA, AFMLS, AND NDDS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR KCRM BM
SUBJECT: BURMA: 2005 INCSR PART I - DRUGS AND CHEMICAL 
CONTROL 
 
REF: A. STATE 209560 
 
     B. RANGOON 1412 (INCSR PART II) 
 
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2005 
(Rangoon draft) 
 
Burma 
 
I. Summary 
 
Burma is the world's second largest producer of illicit 
opium, accounting for more than 90 percent of Southeast Asian 
heroin, and a primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants 
(ATS) produced in Asia.  Annual production of opium, however, 
has declined over the past ten years and is now at less than 
20 percent of mid-1990 peak levels.  In 2005, Burma produced 
an estimated 380 metric tons of opium, less than eight 
percent of the opium produced in Afghanistan.  Burma's opium 
poppy is grown predominantly in the "Golden Triangle" border 
region of Shan State, in areas near the borders of China, 
Laos, and Thailand controlled by former insurgent groups 
(less than one percent of Burma's poppy crop is grown outside 
of Shan State). 
 
Ethnic Wa cultivators along the Chinese border account for 40 
percent of Burma's total poppy crop, down from 55 percent in 
2004.  The decline reflected a resurgence in poppy 
cultivation in southern and eastern Shan State.  Nonetheless, 
major Wa traffickers continue to operate with impunity and 
the government has been unable to curb other Wa drug 
activities.  The United Wa State Army (UWSA) announced in 
June a total ban on poppy cultivation and opium production 
and trafficking, but Wa compliance and involvement in 
methamphetamine production and trafficking remain serious 
concerns.  In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the 
Eastern District of New York unsealed federal indictments 
against seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, 
manufacture, or distribute heroin and methamphetamines. 
 
During the 2005 drug certification process, the USG 
determined that Burma was one of only two countries in the 
world (the other was Venezuela) that had "failed 
demonstrably" to meet international counternarcotics 
obligations. 
 
In addition to regular cooperation with the Drug Enforcement 
Administration (DEA) and Australian Federal Police (AFP) on 
narcotics investigations, the Government of Burma (GOB) has 
increased law enforcement cooperation with Thai and Chinese 
authorities, particularly through renditions, deportations, 
and extraditions of wanted drug traffickers.  Burma is a 
party to the 1961 UN Single Convention on Narcotics Drugs 
(and became a member of the 1972 Protocol to the Single 
Convention in 2003), the 1971 UN Convention on Psychotropic 
Substances, and the 1988 UN Convention Against Narcotic Drugs 
and Psychotropic Substances. 
 
II. Status of Country 
 
Burma is the world's second largest producer of illicit 
opium, but produces only a small fraction of the opium that 
is now produced in Afghanistan.  Eradication efforts and 
enforcement of poppy-free zones combined to depress 
cultivation levels from 2000 to 2004, especially in Wa 
territory.  A resurgence in 2005, however, of cultivation in 
eastern and southern Shan State, where improved weather 
conditions and new cultivation practices increased opium 
production, led to a slight overall increase in cultivation 
and production in Burma.  According to the UNODC, a 
persistent and strong demand in Asia for opiates and a 
falling supply in the Golden Triangle region led to a 22 
percent increase in Burmese village-level opium prices, from 
$153 per kilo in 2004 to $187 in 2005.  Opium price 
increases, however, did little to alleviate the poverty of 
poppy farmers, who are among the most impoverished 
populations in Burma. 
 
According to an annual U.S. opium yield estimate, in 2005 the 
total land area under poppy cultivation was 40,000 hectares, 
an 11 percent increase over the previous year.  Estimated 
opium production in Burma totaled approximately 380 metric 
tons in 2005, a 14 percent increase over 2004.   A UNODC 
opium yield survey, using a different methodology, concluded 
that cultivation had actually declined 26 percent and 
production had declined 19 percent.  Nonetheless, both 
surveys estimated a yield average of 9.2. kilograms/hectare, 
well below the peak level of 15.6 kg/ha recorded in 1996. 
Both surveys also concluded that Burma had experienced a 
significant downward trend over the past decade, with poppy 
cultivation and opium production declining by roughly 80 
percent. 
 
Declining poppy cultivation has been matched by a sharp 
increase in the production and export of synthetic drugs. 
Burma plays a leading role in the regional traffic of ATS. 
Drug gangs, many of them ethnic Chinese, based in the 
Burma/China and Burma/Thailand border areas annually produce 
several hundred million methamphetamine tablets for markets 
in Thailand, China, and India using precursors imported from 
those countries. 
 
According to GOB figures, during the first eleven months of 
2005, ATS seizures totaled about 1.65 million tablets, a 
significant decrease from previous years.  Authorities, 
however, seized over 280 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine 
("ICE").  Aside from these important seizures, the government 
did not destroy any ATS labs in 2005 or take any other 
significant steps to stop ATS production and trafficking. 
The GOB has, however, stepped up its dialogue with law 
enforcement agencies and neighboring countries on the overall 
ATS problem. 
 
Opium, heroin, and ATS are produced predominantly in the 
border regions of Shan State, areas controlled by former 
insurgent groups.  Between 1989 and 1997, the Burmese 
government negotiated a series of individual cease-fire 
agreements, allowing each of several ethnically distinct 
peoples limited autonomy and continued narcotics production 
and trafficking activities in return for peace. 
 
Since the mid-1990s, however, the Burmese government has 
elicited "opium-free" pledges from each cease-fire group and, 
as these pledges have come due, has stepped up 
law-enforcement activities against opium/heroin in the 
respective cease-fire territories. In June, the UWSA 
announced implementation of a long delayed ban on opium 
production and trafficking in Wa territory.  The Wa, however, 
remain the country's leading poppy growers and opium 
producers.  According to many reports, the Wa leadership 
facilitates the manufacture and trafficking of ATS pills in 
Wa territory, predominantly by ethnic Chinese criminal gangs. 
 Although the government has not succeeded in convincing the 
UWSA to stop illicit drug production or trafficking, Burmese 
law enforcement entities stepped up pressure against Wa 
traffickers in 2005. 
 
Burma has a small, but growing domestic drug abuse problem. 
UNODC estimated there are roughly 20,000 opium addicts in 
Shan State, the country's largest poppy growing region. 
Surveys conducted by UNODC, among others, suggest that the 
overall drug addict population could be as high as 300,000, 
plus an additional 15,000 regular ATS users. 
 
III. Country Actions Against Drugs in 2005 
 
Policy Initiatives: Burma's official 15-year counternarcotics 
plan, launched in 1999, calls for the eradication of all 
narcotics production and trafficking by 2014, one year ahead 
of an ASEAN-wide plan of action that calls for the region to 
be drug-free by 2015. The plan is to proceed in stages, with 
eradication efforts coupled to alternative development 
programs in individual townships, predominantly in Shan 
State. The government initiated its second five-year phase in 
2004. U Sai Lin's Special Region No. 4 around Mong La has 
been declared opium-free since 1997; the Kokang Special 
Region No. 1 banned poppy cultivation in 2003 after missing a 
2000 deadline; and the Wa Special Region No. 2, after several 
postponements, implemented a ban in June 2005.  Despite 
substantial gains in reducing the cultivation of poppy, 
however, none of the regions are truly opium-free. 
 
According to the 2005 U.S. opium yield estimate, poppy 
cultivation within Wa territories represents 40 percent of 
the total Burma crop, a decline from 55 percent in 2004 that 
reflects a resurgence in cultivation in eastern and southern 
Shan State. 
 
The most significant multilateral effort in support of 
Burma's counternarcotics efforts is the modest presence of 
UNODC in northern Shan State.  The UNODC's "Wa Project" was 
initially a five-year, $12.1 million supply-reduction program 
to encourage alternative development in territory controlled 
by the UWSA. In order to meet basic human needs and ensure 
the sustainability of a 2005 UWSA opium ban, the UNODC 
extended the project until 2007, increased the total budget 
to $16.8 million, and broadened the scope from 16 villages to 
the entire Wa Special Region No. 2.  Major donors that have 
supported the Wa Project include the United States, Japan and 
Germany, while the UK and Australia have recently made 
additional contributions. 
 
In 2003, the UNODC established a project in Wa and Kokang 
areas ("KOWI") aimed at supporting the humanitarian needs of 
farmers who have abandoned poppy cultivation and lost their 
primary source of income. The project's principal objective 
is to prevent any return to poppy cultivation and thus to 
sustain drug control efforts in the long term. Altogether 18 
partner organizations--including the WFP, the FAO, and 
INGOs--are coordinating activities under the KOWI umbrella to 
address basic human needs through the provision of food, 
health services, and education. The goal of these 
interventions, many of which commenced in 2004 and are 
scheduled to continue until the UNDP assumes oversight in 
2008, is to ensure the recovery and development of 
communities through community-based initiatives. 
 
Japan and Italy were early donors to the UNODC's KOWI 
project.  Australia, Germany, the European Commission (and 
ECHO), New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United 
Kingdom provided support to the project's NGO partners. UNODC 
plans to phase out its participation by 2007. 
 
Japan has undertaken a substantial effort to help the GOB 
establish buckwheat as a cash crop for former poppy farmers 
in the Kokang and Mong Ko regions of northeastern Shan State. 
 
 
The Government of Burma, under a 1993 Narcotics Drugs and 
Psychotropic Substances Law, has in the intervening years 
issued notifications controlling 124 narcotic drugs, 113 
psychotropic substances, and 25 precursor chemicals. Burma 
enacted a "Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Law" in 2004 
and, in support of a 2002 Control of Money Laundering Law, 
enacted in 2003 specific "Rules for Control of Money 
Laundering Law." 
 
Law Enforcement Measures. The Central Committee for Drug 
Abuse Control (CCDAC)--which is comprised of personnel from 
the police, customs, military intelligence, and army--leads 
drug-enforcement efforts in Burma. The CCDAC, effectively 
under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, now 
coordinates 25 drug-enforcement task forces around the 
country, with most located in major cities and along key 
transit routes near Burma's borders with China, India, and 
Thailand. As is the case with most Burmese government 
entities, the CCDAC suffers badly from a lack of adequate 
resources to support its law-enforcement mission. 
 
In 2005, CCDAC established two new anti-narcotic task forces 
in Rangoon and Mandalay, complementing existing task forces 
in those two cities.  The GOB also established an additional 
Financial Investigation Team (FIT), located in Mandalay, to 
serve as a clearinghouse for northern Burma.  This new team, 
established with DEA and Australian Federal Police (AFP) 
assistance, complements an existing FIT in Rangoon. 
 
In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern 
District of New York unsealed federal indictments against 
seven UWSA leaders for conspiracy to possess, manufacture, or 
distribute heroin and methamphetamines.  Among those indicted 
was Wei Hseuh-kang, whom the United States had previously 
indicted in 1993 and designated a Kingpin trafficker in 2000. 
 The GOB has to date taken no direct action against any of 
the seven indicted UWSA leaders, although authorities have 
taken law enforcement action against other, lower ranking, 
members of the UWSA syndicate. 
 
Narcotics Seizures. Summary statistics provided by Burmese 
drug officials indicate that during the first eleven months 
of 2005, Burmese police, army, and the Customs Service 
together seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of raw opium, 
776 kilograms of heroin, 119 kilograms of marijuana, and just 
over 1.6 million methamphetamine tablets. Heroin seizures 
have more than doubled over the past three years.  Opium, 
heroin and morphine seizures, however, account for just a 
fraction of Burma's yearly potential opium production. 
 
For the second year in a row, Burmese authorities made a 
massive heroin bust that disrupted international trafficking 
syndicates.  In September, officials seized a major shipment 
of 496 kilos of heroin in eastern Shan State and arrested 49 
UWSA soldiers, including a brigade commander.  The law 
enforcement operation, the first of its kind against UWSA 
assets, was the result of close cooperation with Chinese 
counterdrug officials.  Related investigations that led to 
additional seizures and arrests came about as a result of GOB 
cooperation with Laos and Thailand, as well as with the U.S. 
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 
 
In May, a joint operation among the GOB, DEA, and the 
Australian Federal Police (AFP) led to the seizure in Rangoon 
of 102 kilograms of ICE (crystal methamphetamine), disrupting 
a syndicate that had smuggled over 800 kilos of ICE from 
Burma to markets in China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and the 
United States. 
 
Through November 2005, according to official statistics, 
Burma arrested 4,398 suspects on drug related charges. 
 
The government's anti-narcotic task force in Lashio, northern 
Shan State dismantled two heroin refineries in 2005. 
 
The government eradicated 3,907 hectares of opium poppy in 
2005, a 28 percent increase from the previous year, but less 
than ten percent of the entire poppy crop.  Nonetheless, 
overall eradication accounts for over half of the reduction 
in area under poppy cultivation since 2001. 
 
Corruption: Burma signed the 2003 UN Convention Against 
Corruption on December 2, 2005, with one reservation.  At 
year's end, a government panel was reviewing domestic 
legislation and will recommend whether existing legislation 
can be amended to meet the Convention's obligations, or if 
new legislation is required. 
 
Burma has consistently performed poorly in studies on 
corruption, ranking third from the bottom among all countries 
listed on Transparency International's 2005 index, behind 
only Bangladesh and Chad. 
 
There is no reliable evidence that senior officials in the 
Burmese Government are directly involved in the drug trade. 
However, lower level officials, particularly army and police 
personnel posted in border areas, are widely believed to be 
involved in facilitating the drug trade; and some officials 
have been prosecuted for drug abuse and/or narcotics-related 
corruption.  According to the Burmese government, over 200 
police officials and 48 Burmese Army personnel were punished 
for narcotics-related corruption or drug abuse between 1995 
and 2003. Of the 200 police officers, 130 were imprisoned, 16 
were dismissed from the service, 7 were forced to retire, and 
47 were demoted. In 2004, the military junta ousted Prime 
Minister General Khin Nyunt, accusing him and hundreds of his 
military intelligence subordinates of corruption, including 
illegal activities conducted in northern Shan State. 
Authorities have not, however, charged any of these officials 
with drug-related offenses and no Burma Army officer over the 
rank of full colonel has ever been prosecuted for drug 
offenses. 
 
Government authorities, acting on the results on a joint 
investigation with DEA and AFP, closed the Myanmar Universal 
Bank (MUB) in 2005, including 38 branch offices throughout 
the country, and seized MUB assets of over $18 million. 
Police arrested the bank Chairman, Tin Sein, and several of 
his associates, and charged them for money laundering and 
drug trafficking offenses.  The GOB, also acting on results 
of DEA and AFP information, revoked operating licenses for 
the Asia Wealth Bank and Mayflower Bank due to irregularities 
associated with money laundering. 
 
Agreements and Treaties: Burma is a party to the 1961 UN 
Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs (and became a member of 
the 1972 Protocol to the Single Convention in 2003), the 1971 
UN Convention on Psychotropic Substances (ratified in 1991 
and took effect in 2003), and the 1988 UN Convention Against 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.  In addition, 
Burma is also one of six nations (Burma, Cambodia, China, 
Laos, Thailand, Vietnam) that are parties to UNODC's 
sub-regional action plan for controlling precursor chemicals 
and reducing illicit narcotics production and trafficking in 
the highlands of Southeast Asia. 
 
Over the past several years, the Burmese government has 
extended its regional counternarcotics cooperation, including 
the signing in 2001 of Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with 
both China and Thailand; the opening, with UNODC support, of 
liaison offices on the Chinese and Thai borders over the past 
four years to facilitate the sharing of intelligence; annual 
joint operations with China that have destroyed several major 
drug trafficking rings; and the establishment with Thailand 
of three joint "narcotics suppression coordination stations." 
According to the GOB, Thailand has contributed over $1.6 
million to support an opium crop substitution and 
infrastructure project in southeastern Shan State. While not 
formally funding alternative development programs, the 
Chinese government has encouraged investment in many projects 
in the Wa area, particularly in commercial enterprises such 
as tea plantations and pig farms and has assisted in 
marketing those products in China through relaxation of 
duties and taxes. 
 
In addition to regular cooperation with DEA and AFP on 
narcotics investigations, the GOB increased law enforcement 
cooperation with Thai and Chinese authorities, particularly 
through renditions, deportations, and extraditions of wanted 
drug traffickers.  Among several important cases, Burmese 
authorities in January arrested trafficker Ma Shun-su, one of 
China's five most-wanted drug kingpins, and rendered him to 
China in connection with the seizure of 21 kilos of heroin. 
Also in January, Burmese authorities took custody of Ko Naing 
Lin, whom Thailand had deported in connection with a 2004 
seizure in Burma of 581 kilos of heroin.  In March, Burma 
took custody of two individuals from China who had been 
deported in connection with the same 2004 heroin seizure. 
 
In July, Burma and Thailand signed an MOU to address 
financial proceeds from transnational organized crime.  In 
October, Burma and India, during a joint meeting of senior 
Home Ministry officials, agreed to increase cooperation 
against drug trafficking. 
 
Cultivation and Production: According to the annual U.S. 
opium yield estimate, in 2005 the total land area under poppy 
cultivation was 40,000 hectares, an 11 percent increase from 
the previous year.  Estimated opium production in Burma 
totaled approximately 380 metric tons in 2005, a 14 percent 
increase from 2004. 
 
A UNODC opium yield survey concluded that cultivation in 2005 
had declined 26 percent from the previous year, and by over 
70 percent since 1996.   UNODC also determined that 
production had declined 16 percent, from 370 metric tons in 
2004 to 312 metric tons in 2005. 
 
Despite a variance in 2005 results, both the U.S. estimate 
and the UNODC survey estimated a yield average of 9.2. 
kilograms/hectare, well below the peak level of 15.6 kg/ha 
recorded in 1996.  Both surveys also concluded that Burma had 
experienced a significant downward trend over the past 
decade, with poppy cultivation and opium production declining 
by roughly 80 percent. 
 
Drug Flow/Transit: Most ATS and heroin in Burma is produced 
in small, mobile labs located in the Burma/China and 
Burma/Thailand border areas, primarily in territories 
controlled by active or former insurgent groups. A growing 
amount of methamphetamine is reportedly produced in labs 
co-located with heroin refineries in areas controlled by the 
United Wa State Army (UWSA), the ethnic Chinese Kokang, and 
the Shan State Army-South (SSA-S).  Ethnic Chinese criminal 
gangs dominate the drug syndicates operating in these areas. 
 
Heroin and methamphetamine produced by these groups are 
trafficked overland (or via the Mekong River) primarily 
through China, Thailand, India, and, to a lesser extent, 
Laos, Bangladesh, and Burma itself.  Heroin seizures in 2004 
and 2005, and subsequent investigations, revealed the 
increased use by international syndicates of the Rangoon 
international airport and port for trafficking of drugs to 
the global narcotics market. 
 
Demand Reduction: The overall level of drug abuse is low in 
Burma compared with neighboring countries, in part because 
many Burmese are too poor to afford a drug habit. 
Traditionally, some farmers use opium as a painkiller and an 
anti-depressant because they lack access to adequate health 
facilities.  There has been a growing shift away from opium 
smoking toward injecting heroin, a habit that is more 
addictive and that poses greater public health risks. 
Deteriorating economic conditions will likely stifle 
substantial growth in overall drug consumption, but the trend 
toward injecting narcotics is a significant concern. 
 
The government maintains that there are only about 70,000 
registered addicts in Burma, but surveys conducted by UNODC, 
among others, suggest that the addict population could be as 
high as 300,000.  NGOs and community leaders report 
increasing use of heroin and synthetic drugs, particularly 
among disaffected youth in urban areas and workers in ethnic 
minority mining communities.  The UNODC estimated that in 
2003 there were at least 15,000 regular ATS users in Burma 
and a joint UNODC/UNAIDS/WHO study estimated that there are 
between 30,000 and 130,000 injecting drug users.  There is 
also a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic, linked in part to 
intravenous drug use.  According to a UNODC regional center, 
an estimated 26 to 30 percent of officially reported HIV 
cases are attributed to intravenous drug use, one of the 
highest rates in the world.  Infection rates are highest in 
Burma's ethnic regions, and specifically among mining 
communities in those areas, where opium, heroin, and ATS are 
readily available. 
 
Burmese demand reduction programs are in part coercive and in 
part voluntary. Addicts are required to register with the GOB 
and can be prosecuted if they fail to register and accept 
treatment. Altogether, more than 21,000 addicts were 
prosecuted for failing to register between 1994 and 2002. The 
GOB has not provided data since 2002.  Demand reduction 
programs and facilities are strictly limited, however. There 
are six major drug treatment centers under the Ministry of 
Health, 49 other smaller detox centers, and eight 
rehabilitation centers which, together, have reportedly 
provided treatment to about 55,000 addicts over the past 
decade. 
 
As a pilot model, in 2003 UNODC established community-based 
treatment in Northern Shan State as an alternative to 
official treatment centers.  About 1,600 addicts have 
participated in this treatment over the past three years. 
Since 2004, an additional 6,900 addicts have sought medical 
treatment and support from UNODC-sponsored drop-in centers 
and outreach workers active throughout northeastern Shan 
State. 
 
There are also a variety of narcotics awareness programs 
conducted through the public school system. In addition, the 
government has established demand reduction programs in 
cooperation with NGOs. These include programs with CARE 
Myanmar, World Concern, and Population Services International 
(PSI), all of which focus on injecting drug use as a factor 
in the spread of HIV/AIDS. 
 
IV. U.S. Policy Initiatives and Programs 
 
Policy and Programs: The USG suspended direct 
counternarcotics assistance to Burma in 1988 after the 
Burmese military junta seized power and violently suppressed 
pro-democracy activists, continuing repression of the 
pro-democracy movement begun under former dictator Ne Win. 
The USG now engages the Burmese government in regard to 
narcotics control only on a very limited level.  DEA, through 
the U.S. Embassy in Rangoon, shares drug-related intelligence 
with the GOB and conducts joint drug-enforcement 
investigations with Burmese counternarcotics authorities.  In 
2005, these joint investigations led to significant seizures, 
arrests, and convictions of drug traffickers and producers. 
 
The U.S. also conducted opium yield surveys in the 
mountainous regions of Shan State in 1993 and 1995 and 
annually from 1997 through 2004 with assistance provided by 
Burmese counterparts.  These surveys gave both governments an 
accurate understanding of the scope, magnitude, and changing 
geographic distribution of Burma's opium crop. 
 
In 2005, the GOB regrettably did not provide sufficient 
cooperation for a joint opium yield survey.  The United 
States, therefore, conducted a unilateral yield estimate, 
primarily on the basis of comprehensive satellite imagery. 
The United States also supported an annual crop survey 
carried out by the UNODC that, using a different methodology 
to determine yields, corroborates U.S. conclusions that poppy 
cultivation and opium production in Burma have been declining 
for nearly a decade. 
 
The United States supported the UNODC's Wa project for 
several years as the largest international donor, 
contributing a total over $8 million.  In January, following 
the unsealing of indictments against seven UWSA leaders, the 
United States reallocated unspent funds from the Wa project 
to UNODC projects outside of Wa territory. 
 
Bilateral counternarcotics projects are limited to a small, 
U.S.-financed crop substitution project in northern Shan 
State (Project Old Soldier).  No U.S. counternarcotics 
funding directly benefits or passes through the GOB. 
 
The Road Ahead: The Burmese government has in recent years 
made significant gains in reducing opium poppy cultivation 
and opium production and cooperated with UNODC and major 
regional allies (particularly China and Thailand) in this 
fight. Although large-scale and long-term international 
aid--including development assistance and law-enforcement 
aid--is necessary to help curb drug production and 
trafficking in Burma, the military regime's ongoing political 
repression has limited international support of all kinds, 
including support for Burma's law enforcement efforts. 
 
Furthermore, a true opium replacement strategy must undertake 
an extensive range of counternarcotics actions, including 
crop eradication, effective law enforcement, alternative 
development, and support for former poppy farmers to ensure 
sustainability. The Government of Burma must foster 
cooperation between itself and the ethnic groups involved in 
drug production and trafficking, especially the Wa, and 
enforce counternarcotics laws to eliminate poppy cultivation 
and opium production. 
 
The USG believes that the Government of Burma must eliminate 
poppy cultivation and opium production; prosecute 
drug-related corruption, especially corrupt government and 
military officials who facilitate or condone drug trafficking 
and money laundering; take action against high-level drug 
traffickers and their organizations; enforce its 
money-laundering legislation; and expand demand-reduction, 
prevention, and drug-treatment programs to reduce drug use 
and control the spread of HIV/AIDS. The GOB must also address 
the explosion of ATS that has flooded the region by gaining 
support and cooperation from the ethnic groups, especially 
the Wa, who facilitate the manufacture and distribution of 
ATS, primarily by ethnic Chinese drug gangs.  The GOB must 
also close production labs and prevent the illicit import of 
precursor chemicals needed to produce synthetic drugs.  The 
USG also urges the GOB to stem the troubling growth of a 
domestic market for the consumption of ATS. 
 
V. Burma Statistics (1999-2005) 
 
Statistical table e-mailed separately to INL and EAP. 
 
VI. Chemical control 
 
Burma does not have a significant chemical industry and does 
not produce ephedrine, acetic anhydride, or any of the other 
chemicals required for ATS or heroin production. 
 
In 1998, Burma established a Precursor Chemical Control 
Committee, responsible for monitoring, supervising, and 
coordinating the sale, use, production, and transportation of 
imported chemicals.  In 2002 the Committee identified 25 
chemical substances as precursor chemicals, including two 
(caffeine and thionyl chloride) not prescribed by the 1988 UN 
Drug Convention, and prohibited their import, sale, or use in 
Burma. 
 
In 2003, Burma held its first trilateral conference with 
India and China on precursor chemicals and in 2004 expanded 
to include Laos and Thailand.  As a result, India and China 
have taken steps to divert precursor chemicals away from 
Burma's border areas and India has added ephedrine to a 
100-mile wide exclusion zone for acetic anhydride along its 
border with Burma. 
 
During the first 11 months of 2005, seizures of precursor 
chemicals remained on par with seizures in 2004.  Authorities 
seized 112 kilos of ephedrine and 14,143 liters of other 
precursor chemicals. 
VILLAROSA