Myanmar leads the charge in Anti-Drugs Day, sort of

Myanmar, the world's second-largest opium producer, torched millions of dollars of illicit drugs yesterday, but experts said the reviled military government's isolation left it unable to properly tackle its drugs problem.

As it does every year, the regime used the UN-sponsored International Anti-Drugs Day to burn a huge stash of seized opium, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamines at a ceremony attended by diplomats and foreign journalists.

Plastic bags with samples of the drugs were put on display at the Drug Elimination Museum in the capital Yangon and guests were invited to inspect them before some US$328 million worth were burned in a giant incinerator by the home minister, Major General Maung Oo.

The country, whose military is accused by the US of having a hand in the lucrative drug trade, says it has destroyed drugs with a street value of US$14.6 billion in 19 previous burning ceremonies.

While it has been able to slash its production of opium, in which it trails only Afghanistan, it is facing a growing problem with methamphetamines, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Opium production dropped from 828 tonnes in 2002 to 370 tonnes last year, with cooperation from the UN office which helps poor farmers grow other crops.

"It's a spectacular decline," UNODC's Yangon representative Jean-Luc Lemahieu told reporters, stressing that the battle was not over.

"In 2003 we estimated that 2 million people nationwide where relying on opium cultivation. That's a lot. Every year it declines, but it does not mean the problem is being resolved," he said.

Meanwhile, the Afghan interior minister set to fire more than 30 tonnes of illicit narcotics yesterday as Afghanistan commemorated the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.

A ministry statement called it the largest drug burning in the history of the world.

The illicit drugs included 2.1 tonnes of drugs including cocaine, morphine and various precursor chemicals used to produce opium and heroin.

"These destroyed drugs will never be injected into the arms of the children on our streets or on the streets of Europe," the statement quoted Afghan interior minister, Ali Ahmad Jalali, as saying.

"These destroyed drugs will not be responsible for ruining the homes and lives of the users and their families. These destroyed drugs will never be sold to profit drug traffickers. And these destroyed drugs will not undermine the security of our country," Jalali said.

The Afghan government last year began an intensive counter narcotics campaign to eradicate the poppy plants from the country.