Myanmar’s Poppylands
Growing opium provides vital income for thousands of families in Myanmar but the drug is devastating entire communities.
Fields of poppies are in full bloom as far as the eye can see.
It’s harvest time for the 200,000 families who make a living from poppy cultivation in Myanmar.
Production has more than doubled in recent years. For decades, opium money has underpinned much of Myanmar’s economy.
But with the country’s townships flooded with pure, cheap heroin, the cost of being the world’s second biggest opium producer is proving deadly.
101 East explores Myanmar’s dangerous addiction.
Published On 16 Jun 2016