Thousands of Filipinos are still using opium as their drug of choice, according to the results of the Southeast Asia Opium Survey 2014 released on Monday.
In the report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), some 20,880 Filipinos used opium in 2011. This represents a prevalence rate of only 0.04 percent.
The UNODC said this was still low considering that there are a total of 210,711 Southeast Asians who take the drug. If countries like China and South Korea are included, there are a total of 3.34 million who take opium.
The number of people consuming opium could increase due to increased trade in the Asean once the Asean Economic Community takes effect in January 2016, as well as due to greater regional cooperation
between countries.
“While the establishment of the Asean Community 2015 includes many positive prospects for increased trade, economic growth and cultural exchanges, it also carries the risk of fostering an environment conducive to international criminal networks and activities, and the trafficking of drugs in particular,” the report stated. “As such threats transcend the boundaries of individual states; the formulation of a regional response is required.”
The report said the top 5 countries in terms of opium use are China with 1.93 million users in 2012; followed by Vietnam with 342,806 in 2011; Myanmar, 293,583 users in 2010; Malaysia, 187,771 in 2009; and Indonesia, 174,652 in 2010.
Based on the report, Myanmar remains Southeast Asia’s top opium producer and the world’s second largest after Afghanistan.
Together, Myanmar and Lao PDR produced an estimated 762 metric tons (MT) of opium. The UNODC said smuggled precursor chemicals like acetyl anhydride were used to refine these into estimated 76 MT of heroin and then trafficked to markets in and outside the region.
The UNODC said Shan State in the north of Myanmar, which hosts a number of conflict areas and insurgent groups, remains the center of Myanmar’s opium and heroin activities. It accounts for 89 percent of opium poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle.
In Laos, the UNODC survey confirms opium poppy cultivation in the three northern provinces of Phongsali, Xiangkhoang and Houaphan.
The report also noted that Malaysia has become a transshipment hub for opium from Afghanistan, with Cambodia as transit country for heroin shipped to Australia.
“This two-way trade of chemicals going in and heroin coming out of the Golden Triangle is a significant challenge to stability and the rule of law,” UNODC Southeast Asia and the Pacific Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas said.
“The region’s large demand for heroin provides profitable incentives for transnational crime groups. Not only by bringing in the chemicals needed to make heroin, but, in particular, by trafficking and distributing the drug to markets in China, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world,” he added.
UNODC started annual Opium Surveys in Laos in 2000, and Myanmar in 2002 to measure trends in the cultivation of opium poppy and help formulate an effective response to it.
The surveys were undertaken from 2000 to 2006 and showed that counter opium production succeeded in eliminating much of the cultivation in the Golden Triangle. However, more recent opium surveys have indicated a resurgence in production over the last few years.