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Laos: The war on drugs

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Subido el 26 de junio de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Laos – once the heart of the Golden Triangle. Tens of thousands addicted to opium. Our cameras will take you to the frontline of Laos’s war on drugs as one country confronts its dangerous legacy.

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Laos, once the heart of the Golden Triangle, tens of thousands addicted to opium. 00:00:00
Our cameras will take you to the front line of Laos' war on drugs as one country confronts its dangerous legacy. 00:00:07
High in the most remote mountains of northern Laos, in a region known as the Golden Triangle, there's a war raging. 00:00:21
On the front line, 23-year-old opium addict Khor Thor. 00:00:31
What Khor doesn't know is he's about to cross paths with some of the soldiers in the battle against opium addiction. 00:00:39
Drug counselors like Kam Nguan Sam go from village to village searching out addicts. 00:00:50
There's a small little baby here. She just gave birth to a small baby and now she's tired and she's resting. 00:01:01
She's not an addict. Her husband is an addict. 00:01:08
Her husband, Khor, is just beginning a ritual he performs 45 times a day. 00:01:11
He carefully prepares the opium, packs his pipe and smokes it. 00:01:18
All this in front of the watchful eyes of his 4-year-old son, his wife and 1-week-old baby. 00:01:25
Also watching, off in the corner, his 3-year-old daughter, left to fend for herself. 00:01:34
As soon as I wake up, I have to take my opium first. 00:01:41
After I've taken my opium, I will do a little housework and then go off to the fields. 00:01:47
Before I do anything, I have to smoke first. 00:01:55
Laos was, until 2004, the world's 3rd highest producer of raw opium, 00:02:03
exporting up to 20 tons of refined opiates like heroin a year. 00:02:10
But what sets Laos apart from the rest of the world is its opium production. 00:02:16
Laos was the world's 3rd highest producer of raw opium, 00:02:22
exporting up to 20 tons of refined opiates like heroin a year. 00:02:26
But what sets Laos apart from other opium-rich countries like Afghanistan 00:02:31
is that more than half of all the opium grown here never makes it out of the country. 00:02:36
It's consumed by local villagers like Khor. 00:02:42
The result? More than 60,000 addicts and the 2nd highest opium abuse rate in the world. 00:02:45
The difference with other countries in Laos is the high number of opium addicts. 00:02:53
Lake Boon Wat, representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 00:02:59
Out of the 72,000 households producing opium, we have 63,000 addicts, 00:03:04
which would mean nearly every household would have an addict. 00:03:09
For Khor, his addiction began like so many in a region with little access to health care. 00:03:13
He used the drug as a kind of medicine. 00:03:19
I had a tooth abscess for two and a half months, and I had to take opium to ease the pain. 00:03:24
I had to take it often. 00:03:31
In the olden days, the opium was used to give to the guests when the guests come to the house. 00:03:36
And they used to cure some illness. 00:03:41
And when they go to the field and they come back and they're tired and ache and pain, 00:03:43
and they use a little bit, so it is kind of part of their life. 00:03:48
To crack down on the growing addiction rate, the Lao government began in 1999 00:03:54
a countrywide campaign to destroy its opium crops. 00:04:00
More than 60,000 acres of poppy fields were destroyed 00:04:04
a move that authorities say has eliminated more than 93 percent of the drug crop. 00:04:08
We can visibly see there are no opium poppies right now. 00:04:13
But with this success, tens of thousands of addicts were left without the drugs they were dependent upon. 00:04:16
I used to grow opium, and I would also stock it. 00:04:24
I finished all my stock already, so I have to go out and buy. 00:04:28
Supplies are extremely limited in the country now, 00:04:36
and the price is too steep for most poor farmers like Klor, 00:04:39
who spent the last of his family's money on the drug. 00:04:43
He now depends on his neighbors and his brother to provide his family food. 00:04:47
We're now in a situation where we have the opium addicts demanding treatment for their addiction 00:04:54
because they are suffering as a result of not having access to opium. 00:04:59
In response, the Lao and U.S. governments and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime 00:05:07
have workers travel to remote areas, 00:05:13
setting up detoxification centers and ongoing community-based treatment. 00:05:16
This is the medicine that we use to relieve the withdrawal symptoms. 00:05:23
This is a tincture of opium. 00:05:29
From the second, third day, normally they have some withdrawal symptoms, 00:05:31
and by day seven, these withdrawal symptoms will be worn off. 00:05:35
Addicts, like this farmer who's been hooked on opium for more than three decades, 00:05:40
stay in 14-day detox centers. 00:05:45
The cost of treatment? 00:05:48
A total of just 15 U.S. dollars per addict. 00:05:50
We have two counseling sessions in the morning and in the afternoon, 00:05:55
and during the counseling session they do a kind of group counseling. 00:06:00
So just how successful is the country's program? 00:06:06
Those who run the campaign say that the number of addicts in the country has been reduced by nearly 70 percent. 00:06:10
What's more, only 20 percent of patients relapse, 00:06:17
an enormous achievement, they say, compared with conventional relapse rates of 80 percent. 00:06:21
But the drug counselors know their work is far from over. 00:06:28
We still have 20,000 addicts, and it seems like most of them are hardcore addicts, 00:06:32
so it will be difficult. 00:06:38
Perhaps no one knows this better than Khor and his wife. 00:06:40
I hate opium. 00:06:48
I don't want to become an addict. 00:06:50
I would rather commit suicide than become an addict. 00:06:52
But until Khor enters treatment, his family, his children, all remain vulnerable, at risk, 00:07:00
and will continue to pay the price for his addiction. 00:07:08
Thank you. 00:07:13
Khor Thor decided to enter treatment for his opium habit. 00:07:18
The doctors are optimistic that he will beat his addiction. 00:07:22
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Idioma/s:
en
Niveles educativos:
▼ Mostrar / ocultar niveles
      • Nivel Intermedio
Autor/es:
United Nations (Naciones Unidas)
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
873
Fecha:
26 de junio de 2007 - 16:17
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
21st Century Television Series
Duración:
07′ 26″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
320x240 píxeles
Tamaño:
43.05 MBytes

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