The new colour of the Golden Triangle
With crop densities much lower in Laos and Thailand than in Afghanistan, crop-substitution programs have proved to be far more effective in this area for lowering opium poppy cultivation. Nowadays you're more likely to find small plantations of tea, peach trees and even asparagus springing up in the heart of the "Golden Triangle" than fields of poppies. With Laos declaring itself Poppy-Free in february, this now leaves military-ruled Myanmar (aka Burma) as the single active opium producer in the region.
