A/HRC/43/59 protracted displacement amongst ethnic communities due to armed conflict described how drug addiction is common in many displacement sites. This is due to easy availability of drugs and fuelled by the hopelessness and frustrations of displacement. These civil society groups report that in recent years the reduction of aid in eastern Myanmar and to refugee camps on the Thai border coupled with uncertainty about the future and a lack of options seen by people in these areas have led to higher rates of drug dependency. 23 Humanitarian access restrictions by the Myanmar Government on the United Nations and international organisations to parts of Kachin, northern Shan and Rakhine State have undermined services, including health services. This makes it more difficult for those suffering from drug addiction to receive adequate treatment and support. Local initiatives aimed at breaking the cycle of addiction and treating addicts have been established in some areas, but they are under resourced, and in some cases have reportedly been forced to stop their activities after receiving threats.24 A local actor involved in drug rehabilitation estimated that in Kutkai, northern Shan, every household has a drug addict.25 Drivers on the Muse-Mandalay road, the main trading route to China, reportedly use both heroin and yaba. 26 At some petrol stations in Muse, syringes and distilled water are reportedly given instead of small change. 27 The Lahu National Development Organisation has estimated that in about 70 per cent of households in the villages surveyed there are young men who are addicted to drugs and that this is a threefold increase from 2008. Lahu villagers say that the reason for the increase in addiction is the greater availability of drugs, and that militia groups actively promote local drugs sales. They report that militia members have stopped local addicts from entering drug rehabilitation programs, because they fear a loss of income. 28 In Kachin State, civil society report that drugs are flooding into Kachin towns and mining sites, and along trading routes. Levels of drug addiction have been described by local actors as having reached epidemic proportions. 29 In the jade mines of Hpakant, which are tightly controlled by armed actors including the Tatmadaw and Tatmadaw allied militia, drug use takes place openly and permeates every aspect of life. Informal mine workers report being paid in heroin and methamphetamine. Local residents have estimated that 90 per cent of workers in the Hpakant jade mines are drug users. 30 Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, is reported to have one of the highest concentrations of drug addicts in the world.31 The Kachin Baptist Convention, which runs a drug rehabilitation programme, claims that approximately 80 per centopll, of ethnic Kachin youth are drug addicts. Health and social workers report that about a third of students at Myitkyina and Bhamo universities are injecting drug users. 32 Another local actor estimates that almost every Kachin family has been affected by the drug problem. According to one drug user, “You can get drugs everywhere in Myitkyina city. I was arrested many times. I have 4 older brothers, but they all died because of drugs.” 33 People from Kachin communities reportedly blame the Tatmadaw for targeting them with illicit drugs and have 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 For more information see “The Is No One Who Does Not Miss Home: Report on Protracted Displacement Due to Armed Conflict in Burma/Myanmar” by fifteen ethnic community-based organizations and locally-based civil society organizations, coordinated by Progressive Voice, 2019. For more information see “Drug crisis ravages Myanmar’s Shan State” Agence France-Presse, 2019. AFP, 2019. KWAT, 2014. KWAT, 2014. For more information see “Naypyidaw’s drug addiction: The Burma Army’s strategic use of the drug trade in the Golden Triangle and its impact on the Lahu” by The Lahu National Development Organisation, 2016. KWAT, 2014. For more information see “Battling for blood jade” by Hannah Beech for Time, 2016 For more information see “Drug addiction lurks in Myanmar conflict’s shadow” by Gemunu Amarasinghe for the Associated Press, 2013. KWAT, 2014. KWAT, 2014. 27