This is best illustrated in Kachin state in northern Burma where drug abuse is to say the least, rampant. The Kachin News Group’s (KNG) first mini drug report of Kachin State titled - "Authorities feed on heroin epidemic in Hpakant" is an eye opener and says it all.
In the state under the scanner, a constant source of irritation for the Burmese military junta is the student community owing allegiance to the All Kachin Students Union (AKSU) which has been into sporadic movements against the regime on various issues, starting from demanding the release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, restoration of democracy to demanding a halt to hydro power projects which are likely to spell ecological disaster for the state.
While the AKSU remains active because of a number of dedicated student activists, by and large students of the once famous Myitkyina University have fallen prey to drug addiction with the active encouragement of the authorities, who have made no attempt to check the proliferation of drug abuse by both male and female students of the varsity.
Though church groups have been campaigning against drug and alcohol abuse, it has not been able to do much. Much as Christian churches in Kachin State would like to reach out and help eradicate drug addiction it has not been authorized to open any care centre for drug users. Now, churches have given up their efforts in disgust and no longer make any attempt to start care centres or take up programmes for drug users in Kachin State. Among the churches which tried their best several times to help rehabilitate drug users was the Kachin Baptist Church in Myitkyina.
The saddest part of youth falling prey to drug addiction in Kachin state is the vast number of students that have been drawn into this deadly abuse. A case in point is the Myitkyina University once hailed for its excellence in learning and producing brilliant students and dedicated democracy activists.Things have undergone a sea change in this university. A majority of the students are into heroin known as No. 4 in popular parlance. The varsity campus has come to be known as a haven for drug users. There is no hide and seek about drug use in the campus, which is littered with bloodied syringes, needles and syringe packets. These can be found all over, from the football field to the toilets, forcing the Myitkyina-based MDM (Medicin Du Monde – France) to place waste bins in the university toilet for intravenous drug users to discard used syringes.
The ‘stuff’ is available easily. It can be bought openly in shops, cafes, billiards centres and residential premises near the university. Such is the level of addiction that heroin is bought as early as 8 in the morning. It is said to have become fashionable to use drugs in the last five or six years. Easy availability of heroin at affordable prices, where it is cheaper than opium, made the switch more desirable and popular.
With the education system in a mess, students, who may have been gainfully engaged in attending classes, opt for the more pleasurable exercise of drug intake. Classes are not held regularly. Lecturers could not be bothered about taking classes and are more interested in giving private tuitions to enhance their income. Students in the university as such have all the time in the world to chase drugs than concentrate on studies. As in most other countries drug traders target the youth getting them hooked with free dosages in the early stages and then selling heroin in tiny penicillin vial lids at about 1,500 kyats (US$1.50) per cap, according to the KNG report. In what is a vicious cycle the students graduate to become drug dealers to earn to pay for their addiction.
The authorities turn a blind eye for the junta wants the steam of anti-regime activities out of the Myitkyina University students, who have been known to be rebellious since the 1988 uprising.
On the flip side the Burmese media in exile has pointed put that in the past 10 years the regime has never detained major suppliers or drug traffickers. Low-level dealers and users are rounded up for the sake of pretence.
It is not just students who have become entangled in the web of drugs. The use of the ‘stuff’ is equally rampant in the mines – jade and gold – in Hpakant, Kachin state. In the mining industry use of drugs is probably more common than staple food. Opium dens abound, for the mining community thrives on drugs believing that it provides them more stamina and ability to work harder. Addiction has been growing to astonishing levels where users need several fixes. The bulk of heroin in Hpakant is smuggled in from Shan State through Mandalay.
Easy availability and lack of action stem from the nexus between the junta authorities and those in the drug trade. Corruption on this count, like any other form of corruption in Burma, starts at the top of the military hierarchy.
For instance Brig-Gen Soe Win, the Kachin State commander in the northern region, who took over just last year, managed in this short period to amass wealth by fleecing drug smugglers. While incumbent commanders of the northern regional command have always raked in the moolah from myriad sectors like jade and gold mines, timber, drugs, and business permit hand outs, the amount made from drugs tops the list. Ironically, Soe Win after taking over had promised to eradicate drugs from Kachin State but from the looks of it only the reverse is happening. An inkling can be had of the level of drug related corruption that the junta is involved in with a look at Kachin state alone, where Brig-Gen Soe Win’s palms have already been greased with 600 million kyats in cash, equivalent US $ 606,061 each by two major drug smuggling syndicates operating in the state, one of the largest drug markets in the country. Ironical as it may seem, drug dealers in Kachin State need to bring in drugs from other areas given the spiralling demand in the state. Consequently farmers and businessmen in Kachin State are switching to cultivating poppy in Hukawng (Hugawng) Valley, Sadon and Putao district.
The drug nexus is too deep and too entrenched and cannot be broken because the Burmese military regime is up to its neck in the racket that has multi million dollar ramifications. Pockets are lined at every level from the lowest to the highest – from the police to the military and there is no way the system will change unless the military dictatorship goes. As of now there is little hope of such a thing happening. One sentence sums up the drug situation in Burma as mentioned in "Authorities feed on heroin epidemic in Hpakant" brought out by KNG: ‘Ironically, only when dealers stop selling drugs, and no longer pay bribes, are they liable to be arrested. As one drug seller explained, “The police and narcotics police won’t arrest me so long as I am selling heroin, only if I stop selling it……………….” does he get nabbed.
(The author is a veteran journalist from India and has been in major newspapers as a Reporter, Deputy Chief of Bureau, News Coordinator, Op-ed and Edit writer.)
