Myanmarâs Drug Vigilantes
A vigilante drug squad tackles a heroin epidemic in northern Myanmarâs jade mines, conducting door-to-door raids and forcibly detaining drug users in make-shift rehab centres.
Myanmarâs northernmost state is in the grip of a heroin epidemic. Nicola Kelly travels to Kachin State to meet those affected - and those who seek to benefit - from the crisis.
With the situation rapidly worsening, a vigilante squad is taking matters into its own hands, bringing the âpeopleâs war on drugsâ to the streets.
But amid the drug crisis, Myanmarâs military elites and business tycoons are reaping the benefit. In the nearby jade mines, business owners are using heroin as a currency to pay their staff in return for round-the-clock work, fuelling the epidemic and knowingly leading its young people into an early grave.
Nicola meets the jade miners forcibly detained in make-shift rehab centres, the mine owners and the gang leaders and asks why more is not being done to contain an epidemic thatâs tearing the stateâs social fabric apart.
(Photo: A jade trader in Myitkyina, northern Myanmar, begins negotiations)
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