Pubdate: Wed, 18 Jul 2001 Source: Seattle Times (WA) Section: Nation & World Copyright: 2001 The Seattle Times Company Contact: http://www.seattletimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/409 Author: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, The Washington Post THAILAND FIGHTS METHAMPHETAMINE TRADE DOI KIU HUNG, Thailand - In Southeast Asia's infamous poppy-growing heartland known as the Golden Triangle, drug warlords have begun producing large quantities of a methamphetamine - known as "crazy medicine" - that is rivaling the traditional trade in heroin and prompting the U.S. military to quietly train an anti-drug commando unit in Thailand. Most of the drug production is occurring in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where Thai military officials and Western drug-control specialists estimate as many as 50 large factories are synthesizing the substance. Thai officials estimate as many as 800 million tablets of the drug - about 80 tons - will be smuggled into their country from Myanmar this year. Some of those pills are then shipped on to other Asian countries, Europe and the United States, but most remain in Thailand, where methamphetamine use has skyrocketed among teenagers and young adults. The abundance of crazy medicine, a form of speed called yaba in Thai, has provided people who never could afford heroin with a quick, cheap high. The Thai Health Ministry estimates that 3 million people, or about 5 percent of the population, regularly use yaba, making Thailand the world's largest per capita consumer of methamphetamine. Thai military officials contend that most of the yaba from Myanmar is produced by the United Wa State Army, a contingent of 15,000 ethnic tribespeople in Shan state, the easternmost province. Western anti-drug agents regard the United Wa force, which is allied with Myanmar's ruling junta, as one of the world's largest and best-armed drug-dealing organizations. Members of the Wa used to live near Myanmar's border with China, but they have relocated to areas near the Thai border. Thai officials and Western analysts said Beijing pressured the Wa to move to stem the flow of drugs entering southwestern China. "It was a very smart move," said a Thai military-intelligence officer. "The Chinese got rid of the Wa problem and gave it to us." Intelligence sources said China has provided the Wa - who are fighting other ethnic groups in Shan state - with weapons, including sophisticated surface-to-air missiles, in exchange for help in constructing a network of roads in areas they control. The Wa's move to Thai border regions has transformed once sleepy hillside villages into boomtowns with new schools, hospitals, homes, restaurants. The influx of yaba pills has so alarmed Thai authorities that they have asked the U.S. military to train an anti-drug task force of army commandos and border-patrol officers. In a collaboration that is part of a new American effort to work with foreign armed forces to stem the global-drug trade, U.S. Special Forces troops are training the Thai unit to interdict smugglers who traverse the rugged hills that separate Thailand and Myanmar. Although the mission in Thailand is far smaller than the widely publicized American training program in Colombia, which is receiving a $1.3 billion U.S. aid package to attack its drug trade, both involve an emphasis on advanced combat and reconnaissance tactics, sharing satellite imagery and other intelligence. U.S. officials here said the instruction, at an army base near the northern city of Chiang Mai, began in May and will end in October. Much of the training will focus on using sophisticated night-vision technology and flying American-made Black Hawk combat helicopters, which the Thais plan to buy. One U.S. official said anti-drug officials fear that unfettered smuggling into Thailand could result in more yaba reaching U.S. soil. "The Thais see the drug problem as their No. 1 security concern," the official said. "But it is also a concern for the United States." - --- MAP posted-by: Beth