Myanmar torches 40.5 million methamphetamine tablets

Jun 26, 2007, 9:03 GMT

Yangon - Myanmar on Tuesday burned 40.5 million methamphetamine tablets, 334.6 kilograms of opium and 67.5 kilograms of heroin to mark International Day Against Drug Abuse and Trafficking.

The bonfire of narcotics valued at 2.73 billion dollars was held in Lashio in Shan State, the eastern region of Myanmar that was once the world's main source of opium and heroin and now is a major exporter of methamphetamines, state media reports said.

Major General Maung Oo, home affairs minister and chairman of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control, claimed the regime's goal to eliminate opium and heroin cultivation by the year 2014 was succeeding.

Maung Oo claimed that the number of drug users had decreased from 63,615 in 2004 to 56,823 in 2007, citing the results of annual surveys.

While opium and heroin use have reportedly declined in Myanmar, methamphetamine use is on the rise, experts said.

The same trend toward methamphetamine abuse has been noted in neighbouring Thailand, a major export market for methamphetamines produced along in clandestine laboratories along the Thai-Myanmar border.

Thailand also staged a drug destruction ceremony Tuesday, burning 2,924 kilograms of drugs worth 3.6 billion baht (103 million dollars), including opium, 9.24 million methamphetamine tablets, 26,396 ecstasy tablets, and 1,802 kilograms of marijuana and hashish.

Thai Deputy Health Minister Morakot Kornkasem said recent surveys of drug addicts who had sought treatment at government rehabilitation clinics showed a disturbing trend away from single drug use to polydrug use.

Polydrug use has risen from 6 per cent of all drug use to 14 per cent in 2007, Morakot warned.