VIRGINIA BEACH, Virginia — On June 26, the annual World Drug Report released statistics revealing that nearly 741,000 acres around the world are occupied by opium producing poppy fields. According to the report, illegal opium cultivation occupies more land worldwide than it ever has before.
From 2012 to 2013, Afghanistan’s poppy fields increased by 36 percent. Now, the crop takes up over 516,000 acres. Myanmar currently has 143,000 acres devoted to poppy seed production. In 1961, the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs was created to place a ban on the use and trade of opium, heroin, cocaine and the cocoa leaf. Bolivia withdrew from the treaty to protest the ban on cocoa leaves, as it is a tradition in their country; the UN, however, made an exception and Bolivia agreed to the new terms of the treaty.
During a United Nations Summit in March, the drug trade was examined in order to find a way to solve the drug violence taking place in many countries. How has opium trade become so popular over the years? Opium was first grown around 3,400 BCE in Southwest Asia, where Sumerians referred to it as Hul Gil, or “the joy plant”.
Sumerians traded it with Assyrians, who then passed it along to Egyptians. With growing popularity came growing demand. The drug was traded along the silk road and eventually found its way to China, where it was the catalyst for the Opium Wars in the mid 1880s. When Chinese immigrants came to the United states for Gold Rush and railroad job opportunities, they brought their opium habits with them.
Opium is most often grown by impoverished farmers on small plots of land in warm, dry remote areas of the world. The farmer grows the plant, then takes it into the nearest village to sell to the dealer with the highest bid. Since the drug has a long shelf life and is used to make heroin, it has become a very profitable business.
Poppy requires a lot of effort to grow, so the poorest of farmers usually avoid it. The ones that are able to grow opium become dependent on the crop’s profit. While many times farmers grow other crops in addition to opium, none of their other products have as high of a market. “The major source of income for people in Helmand is opium,” a farmer from Afghanistan states.
As far as the ethics of growing and selling opium go, he says, “We understand that opium is bad, all drugs are bad. But, it’s difficult for us seeing a neighbor with a new car when we are riding bicycles. So, we have to do this to have a better life.” While government efforts worldwide have cut down crops and punished farmers, some governments have made deals with farmers in order to keep their profits but halt the drug trade.
In Afghanistan, the government has given some farmers an incentive to grow cotton with a subsidized price so they can still make a living. This appears to be a great compromise between farmers and the government; however, many farmers claim that the government does not show up to buy the cotton at the new price. The farmers have no other choice but to revert back to farming opium.
Khamen Phomally, deputy district governor of a district in Oudomxay, Laos, states, “Opium is causing problems in this district because people do not have alternatives and because of a remoteness due to a lack of road access, but those who have access to other options and roads forget opium.”
The United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is working with governments to expand irrigation efforts and introduce new varieties of rice and other legal drugs as alternative crops for farmers currently growing opium. Before UNODC programs, the annual average household income in villages with the programs was $572. After one year, the average household income increased to $1,400. It is estimated that if a government in any country with strong opium cultivation begins to take anti- opium cultivation efforts seriously, it would take about 10-15 years to have long-lasting reforms.
– Courtney Prenticd
Sources: The New York Times, International Business Times, Drug Enforcement Administration Museum, NPR, IRIN
Photo: Wikimedia