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NEWS - Burden of Drug Elimination H



Subject: NEWS - Burden of Drug Elimination Heavy: Myanmar Leader-JOKE !

NOTE :  "The burden of this task is indeed heavy and we are doing
mostly on our own resources," Khin Nyunt.  Much of their 'own' resources
were GIVEN to them by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and U.S. Military
for fighting drugs.  Though in too many cases, this same equipment has
been seen in use to attack villages and murder and destroy NON-drug
producing camps.


Burden of Drug Elimination Heavy: Myanmar Leader

            Xinhua
            02-DEC-98

            YANGON (Dec. 2) XINHUA - Myanmar is determined and
            committed to entirely eliminate drug menace to mankind as
            its national and international duty, said Myanmar leader
            Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt. 

            "The burden of this task is indeed heavy and we are doing
            mostly on our own resources," Khin Nyunt, who is First
            Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development
            Council, complained at a ceremony Monday marking the
            beginning of commercial production of buckwheat, a kind of
            opium-substitute crop, in Kokang's Ta Shwe Tang area,
            northern Shan state of the country. 

            Myanmar, however, welcomes the participation of
            international community and organizations to facilitate the
            task and reach the common goal of total eradication of
            narcotic drugs, he stated. 

            The buckwheat production pilot project began in 1996 when
            Japan proposed the growing of buckwheat as a substitute
            crop for poppy production, reaching a memorandum of
            understanding with Myanmar on buying all the buckwheat
            produced. 

            The project in the Ta Shwe Tang area proved highly
            successful with more than 93 hectares of the crops
            harvested and the initiation of the commercial production
            stands as a landmark for the people of the area in their
fight
            against narcotics. 

            The Secretary pointed out that the project has an impact not
            only on the area but also on the country as a whole, saying
            that the efforts for crops substitution is part of the
overall
            endeavor of the government to combat the drug menace. 

            According to official estimation, in the 1998-99 fiscal year
            which began in April, a total of over 5,898 hectares could
be
            placed under poppy substitution crops including paddy, corn,
            sugarcane and Japanese buckwheat. 

            The estimation added that in 1999 and 2000, it is targeted
            that a total of 4,916 hectares could also be put under
paddy,
            wheat, coffee seedlings and rubber. 

            Myanmar has worked out a plan for total elimination of
            narcotic drugs within 15 years, initiating the move in 48
            townships in the country which cover those in Shan, Kachin,
            Kayah and Chin states after successful transformation of
            eastern Shan state's Mongla region into an opium-free zone
            in April 1997.