Golden Triangle Research Paper

Newspaper: https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1411799/golden-triangle-drug-crackdown-kicks-off

Introduction

The Golden Triangle is a massive area of land that encompasses land from Laos, Thailand and Myanmar and is notorious for the amount of drugs that are made and trafficked with in this region. It is the second largest illicit opium producer in the entire world, second to only Afghanistan.(”Golden Triangle”, 2018) For many decades this area was the largest producer of heroine and supplied most of the world with heroine until the 21st century then Afghanistan became the largest opium producer. (“Golden Triangle”, 2018) The area of the golden triangle produced an estimated 762 tonnes of opium in 2014, making about 76 tonnes of heroin that was trafficked worldwide. (“Welcome to The Golden

This is because the southern tip of Burma is near where the equator is. There is also a massive amount of rainfall from may to october due to the onset of the warm monsoon. The coastal regions of Myanmar receive up to 5000 mm of rainfall annually (“Climate in Burma”, 2014”). Because of the increased heat and large amount of rainfall most of the country is full of vast vegetation, which is why the golden triangle exists at all. Drug traffickers rely on the rain and heat to grow their crops, the more warm a region is with more rain the better it is for growing crops quickly. This is why the illegal acts of growing the crops happen here and not in places that are more dry. This way they can grow crops all year round and during the rainy season they do not even have to water the plants themselves which saves the drug overlords money and time when dealing with the crops. Since Myanmar is touching the ocean drug overlords can send their product with boats and planes, which makes transporting the drugs easier and makes room for more