Reprinted from the Business Day Article "Opium Tourist Spot Underway", appearing in the October 12th issue.

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Thailand is developing a new opium center tourist attraction in the heart of the infamous drug-producing Golden Triangle region, officials said yesterday.

The center, which will be located in the northern district of Chiang Saen, will provide information and house the world's largest collection of exhibits on opium, said Pimpan Wattanasitthiroj of the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, which is responsible for the center's creation.

But the center's goal is not just to pull in tourists but also to make people aware of the impact of illegal drugs not just in the Golden Triangle area but throughout the world, Pimpan said.

"It will show information, both positive and negative, about the history of opium," she said.

Chiang Saen is located deep in the Golden Triangle, a region spanning Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar that is notorious as one of the world's leading producers of opium and amphetamines.

The center, which is now 70-percent complete, will have 5,600 square meters of exhibits on opium cultivation and production including a 130m underground exhibition tunnel.

"The tunnel is to help create an atmosphere of contradictory moods associated with opium and narcotics," said a statement put out by Mae Fah Luang.

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