IWDA would like to congratulate partner organisation the Palaung Women’s Organisation (PWO) on their groundbreaking report “Poisoned Hills: Surging Opium Cultivation under Government Control in Burma” which was released yesterday.

The research reveals that opium cultivation, and addiction, in Burma’s northern Shan State has been increasing rapidly over the last three years in areas under the control of the ruling military government.

PWO’s findings highlight the structural issues underlying the drug problem in Burma and follow a 2006 report ‘Poisoned Flowers’ which examined the devastating impacts of spiralling drug addiction on women in Palaung areas of Burma.

In the introduction to their recent report, PWO state

“we have been motivated in this research by the suffering of women in our communities whose lives continue to be devastated by the addiction of their husbands, sons and fathers. But we know that the drugs being grown in our areas are being exported far and wide…where they are inflicting the same suffering. We hope that the spotlight we can shine on our isolated area will better inform efforts of all stakeholders to address the drug scourge in Burma that is affecting communities both at home and beyond our borders.”

Both reports can be found at www.womenofburma.org or at the following links:

Poisoned Hills (2010) http://www.womenofburma.org/Report/PoisonedHillsFinal.pdf
Poisoned Flowers (2006) http://www.womenofburma.org/Report/PoisonedFlowers.doc