UN supporting Myanmar drug reform as opium cultivation increases

News

UN supporting Myanmar drug reform as opium cultivation increases

28 October 2016

By James Bunn

The Myanmar government is receiving support from the UN to develop a new national drug policy, as the rates of opium cultivation continues to rise in the country.

Myanmar’s drug policy is currently governed by the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law (1993). Under this legislation, people who use drugs face three years imprisonment if they fail to register their narcotic use. It is mandatory for all people who are registered as using drugs to attend so-called “drug rehabilitation” centres. These facilities are run by private non-governmental organisations, implementing unregulated treatment methods.

The government is also in the process of implementing a large-scale 20-year poppy eradication programme, which was launched in 1999.

Click here to read the full article.

Keep up-to-date with drug policy developments by subscribing to the IDPC Monthly Alert.

Thumbnail: Pixabay/Wikimedia