Myanmar, UN to cooperate on drug elimination

YANGON - Myanmar's Shan State government and the UN Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) will cooperate on drug eradication, official media reported Tuesday.

In a meeting between Shan State Chief Minister U Sao Aung Myat and UN Under Secretary-General Yury Fedotov of UNODC in Vienna of Austria, the pair had discussed cooperation on elimination of narcotic drugs in Shan State and assistance in plantation of poppy-substituted crops in terms of searching the modern methods, reported the New Light of Myanmar.

Yury Fedotov also met with Restoration Council of Shan State (RCSS) U Sa Baung Khey, having discussion about elimination of poppy plantation, growing substituted crops and rural development.

Meanwhile, Myanmar announced in October extension of its 15-year drug eradication plan (1999-2014) for another five years until 2019.

The original 15-year plan has now reached the third year of its final five-year phase before it was extended.

The extension of the period of the 15-year drug eradication plan is to maintain the momentum of war against drug, said the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC).

The committee has called for realizing the objective of "ASEAN Drug Free Zone" within the regional member countries by 2015, saying that Myanmar is taking a leading role in fighting drug and is increasing cooperation with local people, private sector and strengthening coordination with UN agencies.

The committee stressed carrying out educative activities at schools, public education and drug prevention programs, effective implementation of family-, school-, workplace- and community-based anti-drug campaigns and drug abuse control programs to constantly and significantly reduce drug abuse.

It called for exerting collaborative efforts of all the groups over the next two years as Myanmar would take over ASEAN Chair along with the responsibility for drug eradication.

Myanmar has intensified efforts to destroy poppy plantations and control drug traffickers, punishing 3,991 offenders in connection with 2,617 drug-related cases in 2011, during which about 6 million of stimulant tablets were seized registering about 1,550 drug addicts for treatment.

The authorities also seized narcotic drugs worth a total of $102. 38 million in June this year.