BANGKOK -- Myanmar has cemented its position as the world's leading source of opium after three seasons of revived cultivation since the military seized power, sinking the economy and rekindling civil war on many fronts, according to a United Nations study.
"The amount of opium produced in Myanmar remains close to the highest levels we have seen since we first measured it more than 20 years ago," said Masood Karimipour, the regional representative in Bangkok for the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), at Thursday's release of the report, "Myanmar Opium Survey 2024: Cultivation, Production and Implications."
