Opium

River Phoenix and John Belushi were fond of the speedball. So fond that both died from a lethal overdose of the heroin-cocaine concoction. Papaver somniferum is the only species of poppy used to make opium or heroin. The drug is made from the white sap within the seedpod, seen oozing from the Turkish pod pictured here.  

BANGKOK, 14 December 2009 (IRIN) - Fuelled by political instability and lacklustre crop prices, opium poppy cultivation is on the rise in Myanmar in a worrying trend that may undo containment strategi...  

More farmers hurt by low prices for legal crops are growing opium poppies in Myanmar and Laos, United Nations officials say. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime warned the trend could reverse two decades of success in Southeast Asia. The Golden ...  

Burma’s production of opium poppy continues to rise by almost 50 percent since 2006, says a report of the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime. The UN anti-narcotics... Bangkok (Mizzima) - Burma’s production of opium poppy continues to rise by almost 50 percent since 2006, says a report of the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crime. The UN anti-narcotics agency says the cultivation of opium poppy has risen in Burma for the third year...  

United Nations officials say opium cultivation in Burma rose for the third straight year as ethnic rebel groups sell drugs to buy arms. As Ron Corben reports from Bangkok, the increase reverses past successes in cutting opium cultivation in Southeast ...  

12/15/2009 16:30 MYANMAR Child soldiers and opium cultivation, two faces of Burma’s dark pit The authorities are recruiting children with money and food to fight rebels and use as security forces in next year’s elections. Surface used for opium ...  

Since the overthrow of the Taliban - who banned poppy cultivation in Afghanistan - at the end of 2001, the level of heroin transiting through southern Uzbekistan has been increasing as Afghan opium output has reached new highs. The increase is ...  

Myanmar is the world's second-largest poppy producer after Afghanistan. According to a new survey by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC), poppy farmlands in Myanmar have increased by 50 percent since 2006. Myanmar is the world's ...  

Bangkok, Dec 14 (DPA) Opium cultivation in South-East Asia rose 11 percent this year as soaring prices in Laos and political instability in Myanmar drew more farmers to the illicit poppy crop, a UN report revealed Monday. Cultivation increased to 33,811 hectares from 30,388 hectares last year in the Golden Triangle - comprising parts of Laos, [...]  

... Afghanistan’s economy,” UNODC Executive Director ... a far cry from the early 1990s when Myanmar was the world’s biggest opium producer, “the trend is going in the wrong direction,” Costa noted. “Increased instability in north ...  

Sitting on a stool playing Chinese chess at the Operation Dawn Rehabilitation Centre near Mae Sai, Thailand, Kyaw Thura, 39, of Shan State, recalls his days as an opium smoker. “It used to just be a few people smoking opium in our village, but now ...  

BANGKOK, Dec 15 — Ethnic groups in north-eastern Myanmar have stepped up opium cultivation to buy weapons to defend themselves against possible attacks by the country’s military, a United Nations report said yesterday. Opium production increased ...  

A multi-million dollar scheme to encourage farmers in Afghanistan's Helmand province to grow wheat rather than opium poppies is being undermined by scandal, with numerous advisors and officials implicated in claims that money is being siphoned off and low-cost, sub-standard wheat purchased and distributed.  

1920s Shanghai is the setting of Debbie McMahon’s wonderfully environmental tour de force of clowning, dancing and blood, which evokes, with ferocious imagination, not just a bygone era but also the atmosphere of the Grand Guignol. Upon arrival at the theater, we are ushered into an ante-chambe...  

When President Obama unveiled his Afghanistan war strategy last week, he did not dwell on the challenge of getting the country's vast opiate production under control. The U.S. has spent billions on counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan with little ...