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Akha Chronicles The Drug War Is A Lie Militarization of Akha
related border lands (Recommended
Reading - The Politics of Heroin In South East Asia- Alfred McCoy) The drug was was something
imposed by the United States and it had direct consequences on the Akha. It was hypocritical and manipulated. In the end it became a terror of its own to
impose control on the peoples without helping them. You would not believe the mess that meth is making in the villages now. How foolishly and blindly they have ignored
(intentionally) the poverty of these people and now meth
is king and right after that someone blasts you with a gun, but always more
volunteers. When
I look at the options of the villagers while forestry greedily takes more and
more of the land, it is little wonder, for sure it
is an economic war and pills the bullets. ONDCP under Bush administration Why Did The Thais Attack The Burmese
Outpost At Dawn? Did Chavalit's investments
in Tachilek have anything to do with it? The
CIA and closing the road to China, keeping the drug slavery going? Thursday
March 22, 1:49 PM Thai general says some politicians involved
in drug trade >
By Nopporn Wong-Anan >
>
BANGKOK (Reuters) - An outspoken Thai army general responsible for >
defending >
the country's northern border with Myanmar said on Thursday several Thai >
politicians >
and businessmen were involved in drugs trafficking
across the frontier. >
>
Lieutenant-General Wattanachai Chaimuanwong,
commander of Thailand's >
third >
army, told Thai radio he could not take legal action against the >
culprits because he did >
not have any authority or evidence to do so. >
>
"I can't arrest them because we are not authorised
to, even though we >
know what they >
are doing," Wattanachai said. "Narcotics
trafficking is a multi-billion >
baht business >
involving hundreds of people and networks... Politicians need money from >
them to buy >
votes." >
>
Wattanachai has been extremely critical of Myanmar
following clashes at >
the border >
last month. >
>
He says Myanmar's government is encouraging the activities of the United >
Wa State >
Army (UWSA), the source of most of the methamphetamine pills flooding >
Thailand. >
>
Myanmar insists that it is clamping down on drugs and says the UWSA, an >
ethnic Wa >
militia group, should not be made a scapegoat for
the problem. >
>
Wattanachai's comments have often contradicted Defence Minister Chavalit >
Yongchaiyudh, who boasts good personal connections
with Yangon's ruling >
generals, >
fuelling speculation in the Thai media that Wattanachai
could be >
transferred to a >
higher but inactive post later this year. >
>
The two countries, which share a 2,400 km (1,490 mile) border, have >
waged a war of >
words since their troops exchanged fire in February clashes that left >
several dead. >
>
Thai and Myanmar officials plan to hold their first border talks in two >
years on April 2-4 >
in the northeastern Myanmar town of Kengtung in a
bid to soothe >
simmering tensions. >
>
Among the issues Thailand wants to discuss at the meeting are >
cooperation to fight >
drugs, problems with refugees and illegal immigrant workers, and >
disagreements over >
some sections of the border. >
>
General Sampao Choosri,
supreme commander of the Armed Forces, told >
reporters >
on Wednesday the resumption of a healthy bilateral relationship would >
emerge only >
after talks at a national level. >
>
The last regional border meeting was held in Thailand's southern resort >
of Phuket in >
March 1999. >
The
Nation - March 22, 2001. Politicians trading in drugs: General >
>
THIRD Army Region Commander General Watanachai Chaimuanwong yesterday >
said more than 10 Thai politicians and businessmen were involved in >
narcotics >
trafficking and production in >
>
He was responding to a news report suggesting Burma had a list of 10 >
Thai politicians >
who had prominent roles in the production and trafficking of drugs, >
particularly >
methamphetamines. >
>
"It is for sure that a number of Thais - politicians and businessmen - >
are involved in the >
syndicates," said Watanchai. >
>
"Our Office of Narcotics Control Board has a list of them, more than 10 >
of course," he >
added. >
>
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
said he would make no statement >
relating to the >
Burmese claims this time. >
>
"I have my own way to check and deal with this case," he said.
"Burma is >
aware >
already of my strong efforts to tackle the drug problem." >
>
Meanwhile former prime minister Chuan Leekpai said
he had never been >
shown the >
list. "It would be good if Burma gave the list
to the Thai side, however >
we have to >
check the facts first," he said. >
>
"During my premiership, Rangoon never gave such a list to me." >
>
Thailand and Burma have exchanged verbal barbs since last month, when >
Burmese >
troops encroached on Thai territory in pursuit of
ethnic Shan rebels. >
>
Watanachai was the first to come out and criticise Burma's actions, and >
allege its >
involvement in drug trafficking. >
>
His criticisms are considered to have broken Thailand's traditional >
diplomatic >
approach - to avoid making direct criticisms of other countries, >
particularly neighbours. >
The situation became tense after Thaksin lashed out
at Burma and the >
Burmese >
affiliated United Wa State Army. >
>
The conflict resulted in the closure of the Thai-Burma checkpoint >
linking Chiang Rai >
with >
checkpoint, but >
Burma has not. Watanachai yesterday said raw
materials and the equipment >
used to >
produce narcotics were imported illegally into >
>
"It is a fact that chemicals and materials used in the production of >
speed pills and >
other narcotics come from the Thai side," the general said. "The >
ingredients are also >
produced in China and sent to Burma through Thailand," he said. >
>
Thailand and Burma agreed to convene their Regional Boundary Committee >
(RBC) in >
Keng Tung on the Burmese
side from April 2 to 4. The committee has not >
met for two >
years, because of the countries' shaky relationship. >
>
Watanachai said the main talking points in the
meeting would be old >
bilateral >
problems that had never been seriously tackled, such as border >
demarcation, illegal >
immigration, fishing and narcotics. >
>
The Thai side would also raise Burma's intrusion into Chiang Rai >
province last month, >
Watanachai said. >
>
"We consider the upcoming RBC meeting as a proactive approach from the >
Thai >
side," he said. >
>
"The meeting is expected to help ease the tension." The International Drug War The Drug War In Thailand The
Wa The
Villages The
Burmese Laundering
Money. Where does all the Wa Baht Go? Poverty:
Social and Economic Pressure Applied On Akha
Villages, Land Rights Poverty
Alleviation Motivations
For Needing An Ongoing Drug War In Thailand Barons
and Mules: The
prices they pay. Death
for the Barons, prison for the mules. How The Drug War Effects The Lives Of
The Akha Hilltribe Some
History: Drugs And Having Your Village Burned Poverty
Exploitation
Lack
of Land Rights The
Role of The Thai Forestry Department In
Making The Problem Far Worse Night
Time Search And Seizure In Akha Villages Arrests
And Imprisonment: Lack Of Representation Murder
In The Villages = Fear Forced
Village Relocations Missions,
The CIA, And The Destroying Of The Culture And Identity Of The Akha Big
Churches, lots of money for that. No money for water, vitamins, land rights. Joking: Odd Encounters With Drug Agents Over the years the work with the Akha
became more and more involved, coming to understand some of the story of the Akha
people and finding ways to help them.
Noting the abuses of the Akha people on the
part of secure and rich missions
and missionaries we oppose them. Paul W. Lewis of American Baptists and founder of
DAPA was one of them. He sterilized hundreds of unsuspecting Akha women, many whose existing children then died, and
were left without children
or recourse, broken marriages, weakness, death. There was a mandate of silence out on the
subject. The Chinese Baptists were another scourge. Some of the history behind this might be important. During the early years in The KMT were involved in opium and heroin
production. Some of the heroin
supposedly went to Vietnam GI's and many
other places. The KMT buildup was said to be an effort to distract
the Chinese during the Korean War by attacking Yunnan
Province of Many Akha villages were
plundered and burned, the Akha caught in a vicious
crossfire that went on for years. The
KMT further complicated the situation for the hill tribe by marrying into
many of their villages such as the Lahu villages in
Thailand, and the Lisaw. Their christian
ranks cooperate closely with the Chinese Baptists (from America and Taiwan once
again) to infiltrate and overthrow traditional Akha
villages like Bpah Cheeh Akha near Prai A Pai which they are doing right now. Paul W. Lewis was a missionary in Keng
Tung during these years until like the KMT he was
kicked out. The Burmese said he was CIA. He relocated to Chiangmai. Meanwhile Bill Young, brother of Missionary
Gordon Young, was busy working the drug scene in Laos. Also from Chiangmai. Also CIA as was suspected of Paul W. Lewis.
Backed by the Taiwanese Baptist, Ah Sauh set up another "take and capture school"
in Haen Taek where two
Taiwanese brothers ran another wealthy project to own Akha
Children. With a new home and a whole
new complex it was obviously rewarding to him. However neither he nor any mission
personnel, though implored, came to the rescue of Huuh
Mah Akha, right up the
road from there. However after the village was saved, they came to see if
they could take it over. The Chinese Baptist Missions, heavily saturating the
area, continued to have personnel from Taiwan. The Chinese Baptist Missions continues to
consolidate their grip on the mountains with a full takeover of the Akha people and their villages. Thai army personnel became concerned of the fake ID
cards supposedly issued by the Mae Faluang Ampur office personnel on the sly for "fees" to
people who were actually Chinese, not Akha, only Akha borrowed names.
Third Army corruption was also sited as a major problem. Population of Chinese who had these people concerned?
10,000. Population of Akha the
Chinese missions were trying to take over in same region? 48,000. Who
and what wants to hide behind who? The American Connected Chinese missions like Maesai Baptist, who just split Mae Chan Luang Akha behind Doi Mae Salong, a KMT
stronghold, operate undisturbed despite the intense discord they create among
the Akha and the trampling of their culture and
indigenous rights. Emanuel Gospel Fellowship (run by Taiwanese
Americans) illegally smuggles Wa people into
Thailand for special training at their Huai Krai center. They
are the mission which has repeatedly tried to over run the "Flat
Village" where our ongoing fish project is slowly building up. Most of the other missions in Thailand are networked
with the Chinese or American Baptist in some fashion. Keith Tennis of the Keith
Tennis <KeithTennis@compuserve.com. A
few other people are. Khun Sa donated land in Thailand to the DAWN project near
Maechan for a drug rehab project. They got a big picture of their "lord" next
to a cross of another Lord down there at the DAWN project. The DAWN project whose trucks and buildings are shown
on our mission sites, are aggressive fundamentalist proselytizers in the Akha villages, making payoffs and toppling traditional
elder leadership where possible.
Hopefully the Akha refuse the Chinese
connection. Well, you remember the attempted forced relocation in
Col. Sawat's 3rd Army Border Security Region of Huuh Mah Akha? Guess who paid for all the shifty housing
and environmental destruction that made way for it? The
Taiwan Rotary, who else? And
what do you think that cost? And
who donated to the Rotary for that? We couldn't get any reply from Rotary, although some
words from the head of the International Rotary got cut into a stone plaque
at that location about helping people who were more poor
than the rest of us could imagine. Some help. (see relocation links and photos of the
mess at the Huuh Mah Akha relocation site) And
ole Admiral Fargo, he promises that Security agreements for Taiwan are super
important. Might
make you wonder who is working for who? Just
another connection. Missionaries
really do SUCK! Think
about it. I wasn't joking. Drugs Opium,
meth, heroin. Just A Little Opium Initial impressions of the Akha
and drugs are generally wrong or sewn with prejudice. The Akha have a
reputation for smoking opium, for growing opium and now of recent for
smuggling other drugs. But generally
the Akha are not such big drug smugglers, mostly prefering to farm. The villages with the most stable
farming situations also may be less likely to need to depend on selling small
bits of drugs. However the Akha are very aware of what the current situation is with
drugs because both other groups often move drugs through the Akha villages, or processing chemicals the other way. Many men who were used in porter duty many times by
the Burmese and other armies retired early into smoking opium. When one comes to hear the stories they
tell of what they saw and what happened to them and their friends it is
little wonder. I once encountered an
old man, but he was only 40, who lived in a tiny hut near a mango orchard of
a friend of mine. I asked about him.
The Akha said he was old, that he had portered and fought in many wars and battles in the
Burmese mountains and now he had not much stregnth
so he watched and tended to the mango trees and smoked a little opium, making
up his days. I did not check back but
believe the man died with not so much time.
I would have like to have known the details, but death was common for the men in these
situations. There was some addiction, if you could call it that,
to other drugs. Heroin was the worst
and produced wasting. Plus it had the
risk of dirty needles, HIV and overdose.
Speed pills were addicting and they were not. It appeared that many more Thais got
"addicted" while Akha men seemed to smoke
the pills on occasion when they had a party or money, but then not the rest
of the time. Incidents with Akha men gone mad from pills happened, but not so
often. Deaths over pill dealing were more common. One frequent mistake was that an
"operator" would do very well at selling pills, and keep promising
to pay the suppliers and runners, but fall far behind. Usually this was due to excessive partying,
and high living, fast living. With
several years of this, he would build up enemies and then in some final
misunderstanding or expiration of his social credit he would be gunned down
or stabbed by suppliers who had not gotten paid. The suppliers might be Akha
but more often were not. The Akha said they used
heroin and speed because they were fast compared to opium. Police were often arresting old people who
were smoking in their homes to get money from them, or just throwing them for
years into prison. Men and women
both. Now opium had been replaced by a
much bigger problem represented by speed so it did not appear that the police
had either learned much or accomplished much, but their ignorance surely was
noted and had increased cynicism among the Akha. Arresting an old person who has worked
hard, nearly to death, with fatigue over many years, for smoking opium is
rather laughable. Here is this
shriveled up old man or woman in their sixties being hauled off to prison in
chains, never to come out alive.
Meanwhile Thais are running hundreds of thousands of speed pills to Of course, the Thais did not gain this stupid
approach regarding drugs on their own, it was well sold them by the pushy
United States embassy people, about irradicating
drugs. However when I asked the US
drug people why there was no aid going into the Akha
community to relieve economic crisis that promoted drug sales, they remained
silent. For it is a glaring gap in
strategy, if the true strategy is a drug war.
But more than likely, as has long been suspected, the drug war is
cosmetic for the militarization of many communities. As well, there is substantial indications
that the CIA itself has been involved in the drug business for many years to
generate moneys for its black operations which congress will not
finance. Opium does not seem to be so addictive, if there is
nothing better to do the people keep on smoking opium. It is a fantastic pain killer and probably
not nearly as damaging to family or body as very legal alcohol which is
promoted and sold by governments. The physical effects of opium stain
the hands from working the paste, and congest the lungs, cause slow attrophy in the body, and of course induces a lot
of sleep. But it is also a story drug,
the old men sitting around smoking and talking about many histories and
events effecting the village. The Akha use opium for
intestinal upset, cough and muscular or skeletal pain which it is very effetive for. When
one sees how steep the land is they farm, how far they must walk, and the
work they must do, it is little wonder that opium is their herb of choice. The effects of opium on the family depend on how much
the man or woman smoke, what resources they have. But this is all of late years, in years gone buy the Akha raised
all of what they needed as well as sold a little bit. But since it has been made illegal, the
price of opium has gone up, smokers must buy it
instead of grow it, and the price of heroin has skyrocketed over the
years. So currently, with it all a
black market, the profits of a few individuals has gone way up, while it
would not appear that the drugs are hard to get, just far more
expensive. So the elite, who are
running the bulk of the drugs are making a fortune as compared to the past,
and this would cause one to wonder just who was involved in the
criminalization of these drugs, and how much they are involved in the profits
on the other hand. Akha’s and Meth In the Maesai area there
have been numerous shootouts between the Akha and
the police. Numerous Akha have been killed or gone to prison. A number of
police have died as
well. Apparently
the Akha feel they are still benefiting over all
even with the attrition. Usually
the shoot outs occur while the Akha are selling to
under cover police. From the stories I
have been privy to, the Akha have been less than
careful in these transactions. They
loose vehicles as a resutl of arrests. Also many Akhas who
were not involved get arrested until there is some payment made. The police logically anticipate that the
actual guilty parties in the village will have to come up with money. I have personally witnessed these sorts of incidents. Akha and Heroin Penty of use of heroin now. Easy to hide they said, and
where was the upward mobility here? Stuff
looked like detergent and some said that they even cut it with that. I suppose that would also be a good way to
move it across the border if you needed too, heroin in your wash boxes. Opium,
morphine, heroin or number 4 as they called it here. I saw it in the little plastic vials with
the red tops similar to what we used to get sinkers or split shot in for
fishing as a boy. I
had watched enough people inject and shoot up to know something of it. I remember andy
at nimit’s trying to find veins in his hand
to shoot into, little blood leaks here and there like sweat in places where
he tried and couldn’t get in. He
had these big soldering iron scars where they took out collapsed veins. Then Nimit, he had long
scars running up his arm near the shoulder.
His wife picked a spot at the bottom for each injection and the track
ran down the arm slowly. God he was a
mess. But
she was dead now, life ran out. This
place ate everyone sooner or later.
And all the people who had died through that house. You help people, you hope for people, you
find out too much and it seems as if that kills you too, kills you down
inside. Can really depress you to know
what all is going on. To do heroin, they took a measure of it, older
addicts used more, and melted it in normal water in a spoon, then took a
piece of cotton it looked like and pushed the needle into it and pushed it
around in the heroin it would seem, I don’t know why, maybe it caught
shit like a filter, and then they pulled up through that into the
needle. If they had a track in their
arm they went right in at the base of that track, Nimit
used his for a long time, his wife was good at it, he
wasn’t as good at it. But the
track got used a lot and was maybe two inches long on the upper arm. He had a couple. I thought that it looked like that the way
someone lasted a long time on this stuff was to have a regular injector to
keep the conditions as high as possible.
Self injection didn’t look so good. Anyway, they pushed some of this heroin
into the vein, then withdrew some of the blood and mixed it in the
syringe. Then pushed it all back in. People had died in the guest house after
being advised that they should inject so much but were dead with the needle
in the arm and not even all injected yet, they had used so much. I
didn’t get it myself, suppose the stuff owned a person’s soul,
and in the bottom of the well as the conditions in so many of the villages were, it didn’t
take much to own anything. Meth running on
border The Akha are often called
upon by neighboring tribes to help guide the way through the villages, along
the mountain trails, or to allow drugs to pass through their villages. The Akha may not
be involved in the transport but charge or fine the transporters for moving
the drugs through the village and jeapordizing the
village. This is based upon the
quantity transported. Effects of Meth
on people I had seen now many Akha
who lost their sound mind because they used too much meth
or got into some bad meth. They become disconnected and incoherent,
talking about many things but neaning nothing and
unable to do their work as well or carry on family business. They may be able to work in the rice but that is all. Some people say that their minds will come back to
them after a number of years. Opium Ok, here it goes, what I know about the gig, course I
won't say it all here as not to bore any. Good opium does not have any additives. By additives
I mean that some guys cut a certain tree, drain sticky sap and then boil it and mix this
into the opium. Maybe you get some effect when smoking it, don't know, couldn't be good
for you. Otherwise opium heads are best if grown in high
mountains. Heads while green and the
size up to a tomato,
are cut with a double knife repeatedly, not sure if from bottom
up, or top down, since I haven't seen it being done.
then a curved crescent putty knife is used to
gather the sap, not sure once again how long this takes after the cuts are made, maybe hours, maybe
a day. Then this gum is opium. High mountain opium gum is dark, low land
is yellow. This opium gum is rolled in balls generally and
wrapped in very thin plastic just like what you buy for covering a bowl in the ole
refrigerator. This opium can be sold then, or put up on a rafter to
be saved for later. Like wine, an
opium ball that has been
sitting for three years is the best. Four or five years is
max and after that it turns to crumbles they say. But a three year old opium ball is dark black, dense,
and smells sweet. Opium that is fresh has two smells to it. One is pungent,
or like what dandelion sap smells like.
As you sniff the raw opium you get this first, in the front of the nose and on the tongue, but if
you keep inhaling air off the top of the gum in the very back of your nose and
throat you will pick up a very fine sweet smell, very delicate, possibly why
the perfume is called
"Opium". Fresh pitch opium is stouter, hits quicker, than old
aged black stuff. It also doesn't
handle as well. Eating a pea size ball of opium, or smaller, some people use
for stopping the runs. The Thai pharmaceutical now
sells a water for cough and runs called brown water, this is licensed over
the counter, has opium, a good amount
in it. An average family might have cultivated opium. The small greens are thinned and eaten,
quite tasty dipped in
chili sauce and hammered charred tomatoes from the coals. A family plot may have raised two kilos. These were put up in the rafter, after
aging, one kilo was sold, for silver. The other kilo was smoked, used in
ceremonies, used for funeral parties or when relativs
visited, or some
such. A house without opium for people
to smoke for free, especially visiting elders, is not much of a house. You will not smash your car, shoot anyone,
jump off a cliff, beat your wife, or rape anyone after smoking opium. Generally old people smoke it. It is an excellent relaxer
and energizer at the end of the day, the tribes say, and when I see them pack ears of corn,
hundred pound sacks, straight up a cliff out of the fields, I can only
guess why. But the US was greatly behind the stopping of opium
cultivation, making no distinction between cultivation between private use and heroin
production. There is a vast
difference. Now having to pay cash,
puts difficulties on many
smokers. But you can now buy gobs of heroin or meth pills anywhere. A pea sized ball anywhere in the neighborhoods that
use it, is about $1 to $2. Price varies depending if anyone has brought any around, if it
is old and sweet or new and strong, and if the cops have been by lately. Also the size
can vary from large to small pea. $1 is a large pea. $2 is a garbonzo
bean?. The people only use a little new, worked into what
they have just smoked, crushed, and added chinese
aspirin to, then smoke it
again. The old stuff is called
"shit". In Akha Doh Kay. If you are short of supply, then all you can afford is to buy a rich
mans shit, the scrapings out of his pipe one time, for a few baht. This will be a chestnut size cluster of crumbles which are ground again by
the user using a large metal spike with a rounded head, and a small bamboo tray with one end open, like a
scoop. The absurdety of the moronic
US pressure to suppress opium could not be more clearly seen than here. However
alcohol with much greater damage to the body and community is widely sold
because the government makes so
much money off it. I am located in Maesai, Chiangrai. My house has the pillars in the Maesai river right across from Burma, and I range to 282 villages south and south west
along the border, by 4 wheel drive, gone for three and four days at a time. Opium price is currently about that
at all locations. Compared to 50 cents to $3 for one meth pill as you go from north to The Drug War Dan
My book, Matt, actually contains the history of
opium's american criminalization. Remember, until 1909 opium was completely
legal in this country - an over-the-counter product. The book is available online at
www.drugwar.com. Int'l shipping no
prob. You are obviously another unprejudiced frontline empiricist. "I work with opium smoking Akha every day, and
believe me it will never come close to wreaking the havoc of heroin or meth." That's
what everyone who knows anything this has to say - including the many doctors
who bitterly opposed opium's turn of the century criminalization. As
Dr. David Macht, Instructor in Clinical Medicine
and Lecturer in Pharmacology
at Johns Hopkins University put it in 1915, in the Journal of the AMA
no less: "If the entire materia medica at our disposal were limited to the choice
and use of only one drug, I am sure that a great many, if not the majority, of
us would choose opium; and I am convinced that if we were to select, say half a
dozen of the most important drugs in the Pharmacopoeia, we should all place opium in
the first rank."4 Wiley knew that opium sap was the safest and most
effective herbal painkiller, febrifugue,
sedative, hypnotic and antispasmodic on the market, official for these purposes,
and that easy access to it was essential to the poor. Nonetheless, he led
the propaganda campaign - from his bully pulpit in the Department of Agriculture
and from his regular column in Good Housekeeping - that advertised opium
as a baby killer when not dispensed by the hand of a licensed personage.5 Opium’s
demonic image, pounded in decade after decade, is assumed to be reality
today by the vast majority of people. The 1918 U.S. Dispensatory: "Although capable of
fulfilling all the indications for which
morphine [one of opium sap’s 39 alkaloids] is employed (above), when used
as an analgesic or somnifacient, the alkaloid is
usually preferred because of its
lesser ability to disturb digestion. On the other hand, in diarrhea and spasmodic
colic the whole drug is superior to the alkaloid. Opium is frequently a valuable remedy
in diabetes mellitus. How it acts is uncertain, but the whole drug is to be
preferred to any of its alkaloids. Because of its peculiar power in dilating the
vessels of the skin opium tends to increase the sweat and is therefore useful in minor
infections, such as colds, grippe, muscular rheumatism, and the like." The legally official guide of organized medicine
claimed, word for word, what the
patent medicines claimed for opium; the entry for it is the longest in the dispensatory,
nineteen pages.6 Unlike the Dispensatory he helped to write, however,
Wiley made no legal distinction between the herbal sap and Bayer’s souped up refined morphine, heroin. When a baby died of whooping cough or pneumonia, if
it had been given an opiate
to reduce the fever, stop the hacking cough and let it sleep, Wiley, in Good Housekeeping, attributed the death to the medicine. Given the lack of effective antibiotics
and vaccines, opium was a great lifesaver; many a baby owed its life to opium,
as Professor Macht indicated. The soothing syrups,
like Parke Davis’ Cocillana,
or the tonic wines like Vin Mariani,
were perfectly safe and healthful; they were
effective medicine, and that was the point. Wiley’s crowning triumph, the Food and Drug Act
of 1906,8 is a great advance in
medical monopoly and a modest advance in truth in labeling. Many over the counter
proprietaries made absurd claims and refused to
reveal their contents, which
often were poisonous. The act, however, doesn’t require content disclosure,
even for poisons, and doesn’t challenge absurd claims; it only mandates
truth in content labeling, should the manufacturer care to disclose the contents.
Content disclosure was mandatory only for those drugs
specifically listed under regulation
28, the most popular medicines in the country. Corrosive acids, poisonous
metals and toxic minerals could all continue to be packaged without being
listed. Only ten of the most commercially valuable medicines required listing,
along with the percentage of their content, including gum opium, marijuana,
coca leaves, "or any derivative or preparation thereof." Wiley’s police force within the USDA was then
given unilateral power to decide what
percentages were "poisonous," thereby requiring the manufacturer to
label his product
as "poison." When the USDA forced a poison label on a safe medicine,
the manufacturer couldn’t take it to court with evidence of medical safety,
because the evidence was inadmissable. The law
specifically stated that a dangerous
drug was anything the USDA said it was. President Roosevelt called this
"purposeful ambiguity." It is, in fact, a standard device of
inquisitorial law - it’s
in Justinian’s Code and the Malleus Maleficarum, and it’s the law today.9 All pharmacological
evidence is inadmissable in drug cases, which is
the legal equivalent of saying
that all forensic evidence is inadmissable in
murder cases. The Drug War The
Akha Hilltribe Casualties
Of The Drug War In The Golden Triangle While millions of dollars are spent on scores of well
fed white missionaries sent to convert them, the Akha
Hill Tribe of North Thailand remain one of the
poorest groups in south east asia, if not the
world. Locked
in a mountain battle front with the war on drugs in the heart of the lengendary Golden Triangle. Punished in the extreme in the past during British
times for not growing their quota of opium, to the extent of having their
children's hands chopped off, they now can not fathom why they are suddenly
being arrested for possesing opium which they smoke
to ease the pain of hard mountain farming, or which they sell to people who
may trade it or convert it to heroin which may end up on the streets of
America. Seldom are they included in any just solution. Their villages were often burned, and now
are repeatedly relocated and impoverished of the bare essential lands they
need to farm their mountain rice. They
bear the brunt of western hypocrisy and double standard. If they had a fraction of the money spent
on lavish mission compounds, tourism to their villages and law enforcement
they would have adequate food and medical care. But these people often lack the most basic
human rights, such as Identity Cards and the right to travel away from their
village in the search for work. They
have become increasingly prisoners of poverty, who can learn to "take
it" or walk away from their mountain homes, their fields, their cemetaries, forever into an unknown future of poverty
where more drugs, dispersion and brothels await their children in the cities
of Thailand. Villages lack clean water, basic medical care,
sufficient farm land, or security.
Marauding gangs of drug runners come into the villages at night
blasting huts with AK-47's killing both their target and sleeping children in
the frenzy. Huge sums of money are collected by organizations
which never reach the needy people, in a conspiracy of silence. Children are removed from the villages in the name of
protecting them, while forcing them to convert and abandon their culture and
the guidance of their village elders. Oral traditions are considered as inferior
to western book learning, despite the fact that the Akha
knowledge of nature and farming has kept them alive for centuries in one the
most hazardous corners of the earth. Villages forced to relocate by greedy forestry
officials backed by machine gun carrying soldiers have been left abandoned in
styfling canyons, as compared to their cool
mountain top homes, their children subject to a host of mosquito born
disease, and all the village people left to walk for
hours each day to and from inferior and insufficient replacement fields. Miscarriages are high, and even now
forestry personell take more and more of this
replacement land, planting trees in the rows of corn and threatening the
villagers with retaliation if they protest. There is no lost love for the Hill Tribe on the part
of the Thai people, though these tribal peoples have lived in these mountains
well over a hundred year in the abcense of Thais,
who lived in the low land regions. Now the Akha along with all
the other hill tribe are being told they are foreigners and to get out. While Thai citizens apply for student visas to come
to the US and study, enjoying the security and freedom offered even though
they are guests, the Akha Hill Tribe is offered no
such luxury back in Thailand as a tiny minority. While the The Hill Tribe are begrudged, treated as inferior, despit the fact that tourism in Thailand has exploited
their gentle and colorful tribal image high in the foggy mountains for more
than twenty years. The great financial gain went to the tourism industry,
certainly not to the Akha Hill Tribe. Now with the natural beauty of much of the remote
mountain areas in Chiangrai Province destroyed by
greed and a maze of big roads cut horribly through the mountains, the
villages are relocated, and soon become slums. Only human rights and international representation
for Akhas can turn this situation around. Currently that looks a grim prospect in the face of
an ever politicized world wide war on drugs that hardly appears to be
succeeding. If heroin was a scourge that was to be ended by
destroying the poppy fields, by relocating villages, then what will be the
solution to the incredible wave of speed pills? Will the Akha once again
take the brunt of this next war? Will all their young men end up in prisons and all
their daughters in brothels? It would seem so in a world too busy to be concerned
with little peoples. The Old Man Caught Selling Pills He couldn't run as fast when the police raided the
house and the younger men got away.
But the police caught him, 75 years old and selling 300 pills to feed
himself. I knew the poverty, the
struggle of the villagers, and he was from the one behind, where they were
even more poor.
So he came here to live on his younger siblings land. The police beat him on the legs and chest so he could
not walk nor hardly breathe. They had
to drag him to get him into the pick up truck, confident that he would die in
prison. They "ate" 100 of the pills, reported only
200 to the boss, and told the villagers that if they got any trouble out of
the village they would put a grenade in the huts. The son of the old man was angry but had to run
too. His wife took the two small
children and hid in other huts, afraid to go back to the house of her father
in law. Besides that the police took everything that one
could live or eat with from the house and promised to come back and burn it
later. The Death of Maw Lay from the flat
village He
was a likeable guy, but dealing in girls at the massage house and in pills. They (somebody) invited him to Burma
and he didn't come back. Opium smoking two
hits the guy feels better, more he cant work, more he cant sleep, more he
cant shit heroin lots of
it, cut with sleeping pills, detergent which it looks just like and whatever
other shit you can imagine. The Shooting of Loh
Guuh The Death of Ah Pah The Death of Mr. Ah Juuh
Cheh Muuh The International Drug War The Drug War In Thailand The Wa The
Villages The
Burmese Laundering
Money. Where does all the Wa Baht Go? Poverty:
Social and Economic Pressure Applied On Akha
Villages, Land Rights Poverty Alleviation Motivations
For Needing An Ongoing Drug War In Thailand Barons
and Mules: The
prices they pay. Death
for the Barons, prison for the mules. How The
Drug War Effects The Lives Of The Akha Hilltribe Some History: Drugs And Having Your Village Burned Poverty
Exploitation
Lack
of Land Rights The
Role of The Thai Forestry Department In
Making The Problem Far Worse Night Time Search And Seizure In Akha
Villages Arrests
And Imprisonment: Lack Of Representation Murder
In The Villages = Fear Forced
Village Relocations Missions,
The CIA, And The Destroying Of The Culture And Identity Of The Akha Big
Churches, lots of money for that. No money for water, vitamins, land rights. Drugs Then there is the issue of drugs. Must seem qutie
normal to the Akha.
Opium. After all, the British
brought it to subdue and now the Americans are busy preaching how evil it is
to be subdued, to indulge yourself that way,
odd. I am not sure they think about
this history so much, they push to effect the supply
to diminnish the supply, but I wonder about this,
and about the economic math of this.
Opium of course doesn't travel much on the world market, but once
refined into morphine and particularly heroin it does, and this is never very
good for people. I can see smoking the
stuff, but heroin will do you in a couple of years, longer for a few people
maybe. At any rate the Christians too rage against the
drugs. But in Christianity many contradictions and denials
are allowed. This should not be true.
And when yu ask hard questions people just
don't answer but are always talking about the truth and God setting us free. I find this odd too. One difficulty for me is that people have already
come along and made the Akha situation a mess and
now it is very hard to talk about Jesus without someone else
"pushing" your work to a destructive side or the Akha jumping to the conclusion it was all the same. That is why I have wanted to make a primer
on this subject for a long time. Opium Mooh Dzurh said that the
Chinese used to buy opium and cook it with alcohol to make blocks. Then they smoked it pure and used a five
gal oil can with a hole cut in it to control the smoke from escaping and
other people finding out. Valley opium is dark color, grown in muddy ground,
while mountain opium is yellow and better quality, smokes better. Aug. 2001 Drug Money If
the chinese church had all this mooney
to buikd a boarding schoool,
was it drug money, any of it? Wa - Lahu drug money? Opium Opium has the effect, one of the effects, of grabbing
off the mind particularly the motivation.
It kills the poain of the body but also
kills the motivation of the soul. Pah Nmm had lots of problems
imposed by the army in the forced relocation.
Many other villages had been totally destroyed by loosing everything. The opium was a kind of surrender to the command of
the army. Many villages smoked opium but
still functioned. But when you added a
large structural damage to the villae then the
opium shifted from a recreational drug to a major pain
suppressant. And a major pain
suppressant it was able to be. One
good smoke could kill your pain for days. Mental and physical pain. Least 3 or 4 days it would last. Alcohol Alcohol is surrender for the day, for the night, for
the drive to do especially what you don't want to do, like typing this all
into the computer from hand written journals. Much of my owrk demanded
that I work on limited funds and too much work to do. This required vission
every morning to try and see how I could make a differenc
in the strategy and planning of the project so I could accomplish the
impossible as it were. Right now the truck is down and I had to decide on
what to do to get the rest of the money. There was little in the way of regular funds. Such that I could plan projects. Literature was the greatest need I had at this point
beyond the repair of the truck. Intervillage journal and a journal to give to foreigners, to tell
the Akha story. And I had to recruit more tourists to help, to donate
funds and so forth. A gambler Kamen
Daeng, was killed in Maesai He
was shot through the back of the head by an army sniper. The Third Army was angry because he had let
the Burmese army move troops with his fleet of trucks he had on the Burma
side from his gravel and sand business, when there was the border conflict
between Burmese and Thai army this year. Opium can make people angry when they
wake up Opium I rested my boot on the foot of the bed, the kids were asleep under the mosquito net. He worked the opium "crap" as they called
it "doh kay"
into a powder, added aspirin powder and new opium and smoked it. He rolled the ball in his fingers, pushed a
heavy needle into it, held it over the flame funnel and then worked it
against a flat metal blade from one of those cheap knives, returning the
black ball over and over to the flame.
To the outside of this ball he would add more of the fresh paste, gum
sap of opium. If the opium was good, especially the dark or even aged stuff, it had
a strong smell like you might get with dandelions or rg
weed but if you sniffed the rw gum and inhaled
deeply there was a very exquisite and fine sweet flavor to it which would
come to the back of the nostrils. To smoke it wsa sweet too,
the exhaled smoke sweet to another's nose. Smoking opium was excellent for conversations talking
things out. They said it was also good for xex. They smoked it over the flame funnel, till it
bubbled, drawing the liquid in while it was hot, cleaning the hole, smoking
again. If you wait till the ball
cooled, then it didn't taste as good or perform as good. For that reason you smoked it clean
through, the whole ball, for best taste and handling. We talked many times over opium, good conversation. The pot a tiny clay pot, the bamboo tube, that was
all. The clay pot, no bigger than a
crab apple, had a copper wire wound around the neck to keep it strong. Sometimes the whole thing broke and the men
wired the whole thing together. The flame was a wick of threads, in a tiny can or bottle fed by pig |