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In the 1986-87 season the Royal Thai Army's eradication operation targeted opium fields in every growing area of the north and utilized a combined force of 5,260 men. The Royal Thai Army's report on its eradication effort claims that 3177 hectares of
of opium were eradicated (almost double the 1665 hectares claimed for
claimed for 1985-86) which would have accounted for over 80 percent of all the opium planted according to the opium survey figures. We believe, however, that the Royal Thai Army's eradication figures are inflated because of problems encountered when untrained personnel attempt to estimate acreage based on ground observations. Also, manual eradication is not 100 percent effective. Sources within the Thai Government estimate that the Royal Thai Army probably eradicated some 30 percent of the expected yield, which would leave Thailand with a total opium production of between 15 and 20-plus tons for the year.
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The Third Army is already planning the 1987/88 eradication campaign and intends to
to eradicate even more acreage than was eradicated during the previous season. The Third Army also continues in cooperation with civilian officials a propaganda and psychological-warfare operation designed to convince opium growers in northern Thailand that opium production is a high risk venture and that farmers have no choice but to take advantage of crops substitution programs and to terminate dependence on opium as a cash crop.
of, the RTG's credible
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Despite, or perhaps because marijuana eradication effort, marijuana production in Thailand continues to expand and spread into new provinces with extended growing seasons now making it a double crop. The RTG remains committed to eradicating marijuana wherever it is discovered and has extended the marijuana eradication program into country-wide, year-long effort. The vigor of the Thai marijuana eradication campaign is perhaps best demonstrated by the farmers themselves, who have engaged in shifting agricultural practices in an effort to avoid enforcement and eradication. Furthermore, marijuana traffickers have responded by encouraging new production in Laos in areas not subject to eradication.
While we are impressed by the Thai marijuana eradication campaign, this remains an area in which there is little statistical information which can be used to describe the scope of the problem and the actual success in terms of percentage of acreage eradicated. Marijuana eradication continues to be very much an ad hoc operation with local commanders moving to eradicate marijuana on the basis of ground intelligence which locates the fields. The system is further complicated by confusion between weights of dry versus wet marijuana and a