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478 OPNA TRAD
Aplanation
Until peace, a stable government and a crop replacement programme are established in Shan State, the only means of limiting the flow of narcotics is through control of the trade in opiwa. No information has ever been published on the opium trade inside Shan State, and the research carried out at long range by Narcotics Bureau officials working from Thailand has been strictly orientated towards law enforcement. This has led to a policy of applying pressure to opium armies like the K4, or arresting opius leaders such as Lav Usin Fan, despite the fact that the personnel and groups operating the trade are so flexible that they immediately regroup vader another name with virtually no interruption in the flow of narcotics. Clearly a better understanding of the mechanics and politics of the opium trade, together with its long term historical and sociological patterns, is essential to any attempt to deal with this problem.
Research objectives
1.
This phase of research shall seek to answer the following questions: How much opium is bought within Shan State for resale, and what are
the fluctuations according to crop size?
2.
What taxes are levied on opium in the field and during transportation?
3.
Who finances and purchases opium and what is the relative importance
of the morchant in the overall trade?
What factors determine opium's value both at the time of purchase and
at the time of resale?
5.
What are the patterns of trade and exchange?
6.
What ancillery services such as hire of mules, tho exchange of gold and jade, the marketing of contraband from Thailand, are essential
to the trade?
7.
What is the cystem for transport and escort and why have so few
convoys been captured or destroyed?
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12.
How is the pattern of trade related to the pattern of shifting
alliances characteristic of the region?
What is the relationship between trading patterns and ethnolinguistic affinities? Specifically, what accounts for the key role played by
Haw Chinese?
What is the total revenue produced by opium and how is thic distribute: emong the trading groups?
What has been the relative importance of opium to the revolutionary forces in Burna, and can the opium trade only flourish in a period ci political disturbahce?
How important is the trade to the overall economy of the area?
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