Global Opium Production Rising As Economies Fall

Authorities are worried about an increase in poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle, fearing that opium production in the region would be boosted due to the global economic slowdown.
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Deputy secretary-general of the Narcotics Control Board (NCB) Pitaya Jinawat said yesterday that opium cultivation in Thailand, Laos and Burma has increased over the past three years.
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By Subin Kheunkaew and Theerawat Khamthita
Bangkok Post 

He said poppy-growing areas in the country’s northern region, a prime cultivating area, increased from 700 to 1,800 rai last year and was expected to grow to 2,000 rai this year.

A significant increase in opium production in Laos and Burma has also been reported, he said.

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Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, points to a map showing poppy cultivation in Afghanistan during a press conference in Rome, Friday, Nov. 14, 2008. High food prices are encouraging many Afghan farmers to switch to food crops and drop poppy cultivation, Costa said Friday. An oversupply of opium has pushed prices down 20 percent a year over the last four years, causing opium farmers’ income to decline. Poppy production remains high in the south of the country (red on map), where the Taliban-led insurgency is strongest, Costa said, but that 18 provinces went poppy-free this year (dark blue on map).(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)