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Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
Health
Kevin Doyle

Q&A: The opium surge in Southeast Asia’s ‘Golden Triangle’

Jeremy Douglas Golden Triangle United Nations Al Jazeera Triangle Myanmar UNODC Economy Heroin Corruption
A Myanmar government soldier displays opium poppies during the destruction of an opium field near the notorious Golden Triangle in Myanmar, 2000 [File: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP]

Bangkok, Thailand – The Golden Triangle – a region where the jungle borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet – has long been notorious as the centre of an illegal drug trade operated, controlled and protected by warlord-like military leaders allied with regional organised crime figures.

Synthetic drugs produced in the Golden Triangle have flooded regional markets. In 2021 alone, more than a billion methamphetamine pills were seized by authorities in Southeast and East Asia, according to the United Nations.

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