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A CONTRARIAN VIEW OF THE DRUG WAR



A CONTRARIAN VIEW OF THE DRUG WAR
3.9.97/THE NATION
TOM FAWTHROP

EFFORTS TO BRING LASO INTO THE FOLD BY CRIMINALISING OPIUM
PRODUCTION WILL ONLY EXACERBATE CONFLICTS WITH THE TRADITIONAL
CULTURE OF THE MOUNTAIN PEOPLE, WRITES TOM FAWTHROP IN THE FIRST
OF A TWO-PART SERIES.

The picturesque profusion of red, white and pink poppies that
adorned the remote mountains of northern Laos in February
signalled another good opium harvest for the Hmong, Akha and
other hilltribes. Opium has been their main source of livelihood
for generations. It is their cash-crop, their medicine, and part
of their traditional culture.

While in the neighbouring countries of Burma, Thailand and
Vietnam the Hmong Akha and other opium-growers live under the
constant threat of legal sanctions - with their crop often
threatened by fierce eradication campaigns - Laos has remained
one of the last frontiers where opium is still more or less
legal. All that is changing or about to change.

>From 1975 to 1990 Laos was beyond the global reach of the
US-instigated global war on drugs. Sustained by Soviet aid, it
was off-limits to Washington's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in
spite of the presence of a US embassy in Vientiane throughout the
Cold War.

In recent years the UN Drug Control agency (UNDCP) and the DEA
have moved in as part and parcel of Western aid in the wake of
the collapse of communism in Europe. Laos has been strongly
pressured to crack down on opium, pass tougher anti-drug laws,
and sign up to Western-drafted international conventions banning
all narcotics. These UN drug conventions keep the US Congress
happy but take little account of indigenous traditions and
livelihoods.

By opening its doors to Western aid and investment Vientiane has
little choice anymore. The aid comes with strings
heavily-attached to US concerns about opium and the Lao
government's performance in cooperating with international
narcotics agencies.

Laos is the odd man out, the country that does not fit the
regional narcotics profile.

The countries that have implemented opium suppression campaigns,
like Thailand and Vietnam, now suffer a much worse problem: the
curse of heroin addiction. A traditional opium-smoking country,
Laos has so far escaped the rampant heroin addiction of its
neighbours.
     
Drug-enforcement officials admit that the Laotian contribution to
the global heroin trade is only marginal. Lao specialist and
anthropologist David Feinegold. a former consultant to the US
congressional committee on narcotics (Lester Wolf committee), has
concluded that Laos does not have any real narcotics problems. In
an interview with The Nation he quipped: "Why not leave Laos
alone?"

The opium poppy, papaver somniferum, has been cultivated and its
resins extracted for use as a narcotic since ancient times dating
back to the early Greek Empire. Opium also has a long history of
medical use not only in Asia and the Arab states but also in
Europe. Opium pills were sold as an over-the counter medicine in
Britain right up until the 1920s. The US government drummed up
the horror of narcotics and made drug addiction a crime under the
US Narcotics Act in 1914.

Anthropologists, development consultants and other critics of
Western narcotics policies being imposed on Laos argue that
making opium production illegal rums counter to local traditions
and culture.

LOCAL CONSUMPTION

Local consumption of opium accounts for a major part of the crop,
from 50 tonnes to 80 tonnes, but it fluctuates according to
variations in the price from year to year. Grant Evans, an
Australian anthropologist and author of "Peasants and Socialism
in Laos" argued that "US pressure and criminalisation is only
likely to cause problems". In a recent interview in Vientiane,
Evans commented: "Opium is a bloody good cash crop for the
mountain peoples, there is no point in suppressing it, there
should be legal cultivation."

As things stand, most of the 47 different ethnic minorities which
comprise roughly 35 per cent of the total population, and more
than a million people, can be considered to be part of the opium
economy - either as growers or consumers.

The head of the government's National Commission for Drug Control
and Legislation, Soubanh Srithirath, also vice-foreign minister,
made a speech in November 1995, urging Westerners to be more
understanding of opium as part of the "Lao Soung" way of life.
Apparently aiming his remarks at some Westerners who think Laos
is not doing enough to eradicate opium cultivation; Soubanh
explained that for many mountain people "smoking opium is no
different from the way you in the West drink wine".

Feingold, a specialist on the Akha people also advocated a 'let
them be" policy of non-intervention.

"Laos is only small fry in the world of heroin. We are mostly
dealing with opium. The best policy would be one of benign 
neglect, let the people grow what they need for medical use,"
said.

     
The analgesic qualities of opiates are wellknown, the full-range
of opium's medical use tends to be drowned out by the hue and cry
generated by narcotics suppression. The mountain peoples use
opium as an effective treatment for respiratory problems,
diarrhoea, depression and insomnia. Even lowland Lao in the
capital frequently avail themselves of a tincture of opium for
toothache and other pain relief.

At the UNDCP regional office in Bangkok law-enforcement adviser
Richard Dickins acknowledged that opium was widely used as
medicine. A recent survey found that two-thirds of the 130-tonne
opium harvest was consumed locally. The remaining one-third,
approximately 40 to 50 tonnes was trafficked abroad. A growing
proportion of that opium has been used to fuel Vietnam's
fast-growing heroin problem, which is aided and abet: ted by a
corrupt network of police, border patrols, and narcotics agents.

IS THERE AN ADDICTION PROBLEM?

The extent of opium addiction is far from clear as official
figures do not offer any credible definition of addiction. The
UNDCP claims there is widespread opium addiction in northern Laos
with an estimated 2. 42,000 daily opium users. In one report it 0
is stated that the "total abuse of opium is 80 tonnes per year".
According to Feingold, who has carried out field studies among;
Akha, the addiction figures are nonsense.

"These figures automatically assume that all regular users are
addicts which is a fallacy." Feingold also explained that the
Akha villages do have a definition of 0 drugs addiction: "The
Akha say an addict is someone who can no longer perform their
normal tasks."

Further social controls among both the Hmong and the Akha operate
to deter young people and women from becoming regular smokers.
This correspondent visited many opium-smoking villages and saw
few clear cases of addiction. Those congregated around the bong
were mostly old men. What narcotics agents sweepingly refer to as
"opium abuse" is according to the social mores of the Lao Soung
people a largely disciplined use of opium based on medical needs
and tradition.

Dr Colin Brewer, medical director of Stapleford Centre, a London
treatment centre for drug addicts who contributed to a UK
documentary on the drug war, saw that much of the problem was
based on another facet of the unequal North-South relations in
trade, economic power and control of the global agenda.
     
"We have a kind of pharmacological imperialism where the drugs of
the first world - alcohol, tobacco - remain legal and indeed we
are pushing them around Third World countries. Whereas the drugs
of the Third World - cannabis, coca, opium - are outlawed by the
Americans who say the only drugs that we will permit you to use
are the ones that we think are okay ... I don't see the problems
caused by the Third World drugs are very different to the
problems caused by alcohol and tobacco in many cases rather
less."

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