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crop. In fact, the growers of opium usually live peacefully.
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During the growing season they are too busy to do anything else. They do not profit unduly from their labours. They subsit and work hard to subsist. It is the carriers and traders, the middlemen, who have to rely most heavily on weapons,
for this
is where the competition really starts. While Meo and Yao hilltribes grow the opium, most of the carrying is done by rebel bands of KMT, Shan, Kachin and other minor groups such as the Kokang Revolutionary Force (whose well known "general" used to be the assistant manager of a Chiang Mai hotel ).
5. The general atmosphere of competition for the right to trade in opium leads to a requirement for the rival factions to possess firearms. The opium war of 1967 is well remembered in these parts. It was a hard fought battle between KMT, Shan and Lao government forces (which the Laos won) to decide who had certain trading rights. Indeed, it is not easy to tell now whether groups such as the KMT and the various armies of the Shans trade in opium in order to buy guns or buy guns in order to trade in opium. At all events, the arms have to be brought into the area and, since they are not brought in legally, the price tends to be on the high side.
6. In addition to guns, the private armies also need other commodities, some of which are part of a pattern of general trade in the area. This there is a high volume of trade across the borders of Thailand in other commodities. These include imports of lumber, cattle, jade, precious stones, handicrafts and antiques. Exports include guns and ammunition and a wide
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