Production of methamphetamine and opium has grown at a rapid pace in the Southeast Asian country, according to the UN, with many armed groups using drug profits to buy weapons. The scene of a devastating civil war since 2021, the nation of Myanmar has become the epicenter of a billion-dollar illicit drug market in Southeast Asia, which is rapidly expanding.
Opium cultivation, used in the production of heroin, increased by 17% last year in the country, now occupying more than 53,000 hectares, the equivalent of a third of the area of the city of São Paulo, according to a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) published this week.
Myanmar also remains the world’s largest producer of opium. The country took this post from Afghanistan in 2023, two years after the Taliban group regained control of the Central Asian country and eradicated the vast majority of its poppy fields – the flower that produces the sap that is used as a raw material to make heroin and other opiates.
Data released by UNODC earlier this year also showed that methamphetamine seizures in East and Southeast Asia would reach a record high of 236 tonnes in 2024.
Most of this drug is believed to be produced in Myanmar. According to the UN, the combination of increasing seizures and falling selling prices suggests that production in Myanmar continues to grow.
Chinese cartels in the Golden Triangle
Myanmar has been a major drug producer for decades, in part because of its geography. The country, formerly known as Burma, is home to part of the Golden Triangle, a region that also includes slices of Laos, Vietnam and Thailand and has been known for decades for its opium production and the activities of criminal groups.
In Myanmar’s Shan State, criminal cartels have established themselves in recent years under the protection of local warlords who control enclaves where the government has little or no influence. Most of the drug cartels currently based in this country originated in China.
Methamphetamine production spurred by civil war
According to the UN, the chaotic civil war triggered by the 2021 military coup has created favorable conditions for the growth of drug trafficking in Myanmar. The country’s official economy and government administration have collapsed, and warlords still lack the resources to finance their private militias.
“Because of the conflict, armed groups or farmers have to find ways to get money, because the war disrupts the economy… And opium cultivation is one area where this is evident,” Inshik Sim, UNODC’s illicit drugs researcher for the Asia-Pacific region, tells DW.
Methamphetamine production had already been increasing well before the coup, but, according to Sim, the civil war likely further intensified this trend.
Drug crisis ‘expanding rapidly’
Thailand is the country worst hit by the drug boom in neighboring Myanmar. Last year, Thai authorities seized huge quantities of methamphetamine, including a record 1 billion methamphetamine pills.
“These figures provide a clear warning that the drug problem not only persists, but is now expanding rapidly,” says Thanapon Thanikkun, head of intelligence at Thailand’s Narcotics Control Bureau.
He warned that traffickers were exploiting Thailand’s well-developed transportation network to ship their products by land, air and sea, causing an increase in drug use among Thais.
The UNODC also points out that methamphetamine use is increasing in Thailand and much of Southeast Asia.
Farmers and armed groups depend on drug sales
For armed groups catering to this regional demand from Myanmar, selling drugs is a quick way to get money – and therefore more weapons – says Khun Oo, vice president of Pa-O Youth Organization, an NGO active in Shan State, Myanmar. The Pa-O are one of the major ethnic groups in the state.
“They (armed groups) need weapons and money, so that’s how they can get them: drug trafficking,” he said.
Unlike methamphetamine, which can be produced in large quantities in small laboratories by a few people, opium production employs many farmers.
Poppy has long been a subsistence crop during difficult times in Myanmar. Khun Oo says the civil war has made it even more difficult for farmers to get their traditional crops to market, while drug traffickers who buy the opium rely on them.
“In the past it was still possible to grow other crops,” he says, but now “they have no choice” but to plant opium.
According to Khun Oo, traffickers also pay up to $500 for about a kilo of raw opium in some areas – double what they paid before the coup – making poppy cultivation even more attractive.
Myanmar’s heroine in Africa and Europe
Products from Myanmar’s poppy fields and meth labs travel great distances.
After leaving Myanmar for Laos and Thailand, they spread to the rest of Southeast Asia and from there can be sold at even higher prices in countries like Japan and Australia.
Last year, Australian Federal Police estimated that up to 70% of methamphetamine consumed in the country came from Myanmar.
According to Sim, China likely remains the main market for Myanmar’s heroin. However, the latest seizures suggest that traffickers are now also turning west.
UNODC notes a series of recent seizures of methamphetamine and heroin in northeast India, which also borders Myanmar.
In addition, a series of relatively small but unusual seizures of heroin from Myanmar to Nigeria and parts of Europe – via Thailand – could indicate that cartels in the Asian country are trying to expand their markets to new continents.
“We didn’t used to see this type of heroin trafficking from this region to others, as the traditional markets for heroin in the Golden Triangle are mainly East and Southeast Asia and parts of Oceania. However, we are now also seeing a greater flow to the west,” says Sim.
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