1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Laos, once the heart of the Golden Triangle, tens of thousands addicted to opium. 2 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:15,000 Our cameras will take you to the front line of Laos' war on drugs as one country confronts its dangerous legacy. 3 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:29,000 High in the most remote mountains of northern Laos, in a region known as the Golden Triangle, there's a war raging. 4 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:37,000 On the front line, 23-year-old opium addict Khor Thor. 5 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:46,000 What Khor doesn't know is he's about to cross paths with some of the soldiers in the battle against opium addiction. 6 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Drug counselors like Kam Nguan Sam go from village to village searching out addicts. 7 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:08,000 There's a small little baby here. She just gave birth to a small baby and now she's tired and she's resting. 8 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000 She's not an addict. Her husband is an addict. 9 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:18,000 Her husband, Khor, is just beginning a ritual he performs 45 times a day. 10 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:24,000 He carefully prepares the opium, packs his pipe and smokes it. 11 00:01:25,000 --> 00:01:34,000 All this in front of the watchful eyes of his 4-year-old son, his wife and 1-week-old baby. 12 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Also watching, off in the corner, his 3-year-old daughter, left to fend for herself. 13 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:47,000 As soon as I wake up, I have to take my opium first. 14 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:55,000 After I've taken my opium, I will do a little housework and then go off to the fields. 15 00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:02,000 Before I do anything, I have to smoke first. 16 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:10,000 Laos was, until 2004, the world's 3rd highest producer of raw opium, 17 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:16,000 exporting up to 20 tons of refined opiates like heroin a year. 18 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:22,000 But what sets Laos apart from the rest of the world is its opium production. 19 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:26,000 Laos was the world's 3rd highest producer of raw opium, 20 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:31,000 exporting up to 20 tons of refined opiates like heroin a year. 21 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,000 But what sets Laos apart from other opium-rich countries like Afghanistan 22 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:42,000 is that more than half of all the opium grown here never makes it out of the country. 23 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:45,000 It's consumed by local villagers like Khor. 24 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:53,000 The result? More than 60,000 addicts and the 2nd highest opium abuse rate in the world. 25 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:59,000 The difference with other countries in Laos is the high number of opium addicts. 26 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:04,000 Lake Boon Wat, representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 27 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,000 Out of the 72,000 households producing opium, we have 63,000 addicts, 28 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,000 which would mean nearly every household would have an addict. 29 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:19,000 For Khor, his addiction began like so many in a region with little access to health care. 30 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:24,000 He used the drug as a kind of medicine. 31 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:31,000 I had a tooth abscess for two and a half months, and I had to take opium to ease the pain. 32 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,000 I had to take it often. 33 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,000 In the olden days, the opium was used to give to the guests when the guests come to the house. 34 00:03:41,000 --> 00:03:43,000 And they used to cure some illness. 35 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:48,000 And when they go to the field and they come back and they're tired and ache and pain, 36 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:54,000 and they use a little bit, so it is kind of part of their life. 37 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:00,000 To crack down on the growing addiction rate, the Lao government began in 1999 38 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:04,000 a countrywide campaign to destroy its opium crops. 39 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:08,000 More than 60,000 acres of poppy fields were destroyed 40 00:04:08,000 --> 00:04:13,000 a move that authorities say has eliminated more than 93 percent of the drug crop. 41 00:04:13,000 --> 00:04:16,000 We can visibly see there are no opium poppies right now. 42 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:24,000 But with this success, tens of thousands of addicts were left without the drugs they were dependent upon. 43 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:28,000 I used to grow opium, and I would also stock it. 44 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:36,000 I finished all my stock already, so I have to go out and buy. 45 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Supplies are extremely limited in the country now, 46 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,000 and the price is too steep for most poor farmers like Klor, 47 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:47,000 who spent the last of his family's money on the drug. 48 00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:54,000 He now depends on his neighbors and his brother to provide his family food. 49 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:59,000 We're now in a situation where we have the opium addicts demanding treatment for their addiction 50 00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:07,000 because they are suffering as a result of not having access to opium. 51 00:05:07,000 --> 00:05:13,000 In response, the Lao and U.S. governments and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 52 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:16,000 have workers travel to remote areas, 53 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:23,000 setting up detoxification centers and ongoing community-based treatment. 54 00:05:23,000 --> 00:05:28,000 This is the medicine that we use to relieve the withdrawal symptoms. 55 00:05:29,000 --> 00:05:31,000 This is a tincture of opium. 56 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:35,000 From the second, third day, normally they have some withdrawal symptoms, 57 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:40,000 and by day seven, these withdrawal symptoms will be worn off. 58 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:45,000 Addicts, like this farmer who's been hooked on opium for more than three decades, 59 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:48,000 stay in 14-day detox centers. 60 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,000 The cost of treatment? 61 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:55,000 A total of just 15 U.S. dollars per addict. 62 00:05:55,000 --> 00:06:00,000 We have two counseling sessions in the morning and in the afternoon, 63 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:06,000 and during the counseling session they do a kind of group counseling. 64 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,000 So just how successful is the country's program? 65 00:06:10,000 --> 00:06:17,000 Those who run the campaign say that the number of addicts in the country has been reduced by nearly 70 percent. 66 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:21,000 What's more, only 20 percent of patients relapse, 67 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:28,000 an enormous achievement, they say, compared with conventional relapse rates of 80 percent. 68 00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:32,000 But the drug counselors know their work is far from over. 69 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:38,000 We still have 20,000 addicts, and it seems like most of them are hardcore addicts, 70 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 so it will be difficult. 71 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,000 Perhaps no one knows this better than Khor and his wife. 72 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:50,000 I hate opium. 73 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,000 I don't want to become an addict. 74 00:06:52,000 --> 00:06:55,000 I would rather commit suicide than become an addict. 75 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:08,000 But until Khor enters treatment, his family, his children, all remain vulnerable, at risk, 76 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:13,000 and will continue to pay the price for his addiction. 77 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:15,000 Thank you. 78 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:22,000 Khor Thor decided to enter treatment for his opium habit. 79 00:07:22,000 --> 00:07:26,000 The doctors are optimistic that he will beat his addiction.