Way Maung was out there to welcome a journalist delegation from the People

light of Myanmar

referred to as the narcotic drugs. In the past, there were only opium addicts,

who eat or smoke opium or drink opium-residue-mixed water. Opium was prepared

from poppy juice. Opium is smoked with pipes as the addicts want to enjoy the

soothing feeling. Some addicts were said to have swallowed the opium; and they

were called opium-eaters. Later, industrialized western nations refined the

opium into morphine and then to heroin at a latter stage with the help of

chemical precursors. Heroin is 100 times more effective and dangerous than the

little of it is enough for the user to cause narcosis, and addiction to it will

shorten the life span. The habit of consuming or smoking marijuana appeared

together with the practice of opium addiction. The marijuana is used as a

flavour-adding agent in cooking chicken curry. It is also smoked to become

intoxicated. Later narcotic agents such as amphetamine and Pethidine which were

derived from a combination of chemical compounds and without using opium or

results of the achievements of the expert chemists and pharmacists and the

pharmaceutical industries of the west. The culprits, who made plans with the

intention to introduce opium, which was used as only a medicinal agent in the

past, to the world in order to gain large amounts of profits, are the

colonialists. Especially, they are the Dutch and the British colonialists. They

achieved much financial and political gains in undertaking the unlawful

business. The countries that have been subject to drug addiction are now

exerting their utmost efforts to wipe out the problem of the opium which is

to drug addiction usually mention opium as an evil legacy of the colonialists.

As is known to all, the countries that have invented the method of refining

opium into heroin, and the method of producing various kinds of stimulant

tablets are the neo-colonialists. With the introduction of heroin, stimulant

tablets and others many people worldwide gee drugs. The colonialists who gained

a large amount of profits from opium business are now pointing a finger at the

countries like Myanmar which are the victims of the evil legacy of the opium. In

reality, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran of the Golden Crescent region and

Thailand, Laos and Myanmar of the Golden Triangle region are experiencing the

put under opium addiction by the colonialists in the past. Because of the

situation, they will have to make cooperative efforts to eliminate opium in the

interests of the world. The persons who got rich during the opium era of the

past were the whites of the west. And today, the Mafia and other illegal

narcotic syndicates enjoying the lion’s share of the lucrative heroin and

ecstasy markets are none other then the peoples from the west. The countries in

Asia which are striving to root out the problem of narcotic drugs are being

cannot be closely studied or viewed, their conspiracies cannot be obviously

seen. As the danger of the narcotic drugs has become a scourge to the entire

mankind, the United Nations and the conscientious nations are joining hands to

wipe out the narcotic drugs. But it is hard to believe even the few claims made

by the western world to wipe out the narcotic drugs as the countries in which

demands are being made to win the right for the lawful use of the narcotic drugs

and the various drug gangs are importing tons of narcotic drugs (opium, heroin,

marijuana, cocaine and stimulant tablets) into their own land are situated in

countries in the region many world countries and the UN know well that Myanmar’s

narcotic drugs elimination efforts are gaining success. The neo-colonialists and

the media under their influence are ignoring Myanmar’s efforts, launching

slanderous accusations against her over drug issue. At the time when the west is

making baseless and fabricated accusations against Myanmar, saying that the

country is boosting its narcotic drugs production, there are some of the media

neighbouring countries and regional countries, which know the truth, write the

news on Myanmar in a just and proper way. Only a small number of media in the

region are desirous of writing news reports in the way the west want them to

write. The truth is that the person who wants justice himself must be clean. Are

the journalists, who are reporting baseless accusations against Myanmar, or

their country itself clean? It is not good as they are making such accusations

in their own yard also. I have a reason to write these events in the article.

Myanmar has successfully achieved its goals in implementing the first year

(1999-2000) of the 15-year Narcotics Elimination Plan, and the UN has already

acknowledged the success. The assistance of the United Nations Drug Control

Programme (UNDCP) and Japan were included in cultivating opium-substitute crops

in the former poppy cultivating areas and enabling the former poppy growers to

earn their living without getting involved in the opium business. Some

journalists of the other country while turning a blind eye to the progress of

Myanmar in her drug eradication endeavours are still writing news reports with

evil intention to say that more areas of poppy fields are being cultivated and