Myanmar celebrated the United Nation's International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking by burning millions worth of illegal drugs.
The Associated Press reports that on Thursday, the Myanmar of Yangon, Mandalay, and Taunggyi cities set fire to opium, heroin, methamphetamine and crystal meth, marijuana, and ketamine.
The pile of drugs included 66 types of seized narcotics totaling $298 million. Myanmar’s biggest city, Yangon, burned $117 million worth of drugs.
In May, the U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime released a report that revealed the country’s political crisis, starting in 2021, had fostered the growth of the meth trade. The report found that unprecedented amounts of the drug were being produced and trafficked from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle region, which is where Myanmar, Thailand, and Laos’ borders touch.
The Golden Triangle region has also been known to produce large amounts of opium and heroin due to border instability. Historically, these drugs have been bound for East and Southeast Asia; now, the narcotics flow into South Asia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
In 2023, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime deemed Myanmar the world’s biggest opium producer.
It's not the first time piles of drugs have been burned in Myanmar. In 2023, the country destroyed more than $446 million worth of narcotics for the U.N.’s International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
