Sitting on the dangerous Myanmar border is an
Indian village of head-hunters with an opium
addiction so pervasive a third of the population
smoke the drug with many having to sell their
possessions to fund the habit and 90% have
used the substance.
The situation is so bad in Longwa, children are
left without the attention of their fathers because
the men spend long hours smoking opium, they
don't have their mothers around either because
the women, who have avoided the habit, have to
tend to the rice and vegetable farms.
What are the authorities doing about it you ask?
Well, the village chief Tonye Phawang and his
caretakers spend all day smoking opium.
Australian photographer traveled to the village
after hearing tales of headhunting which was
practiced there until the 1960s but instead he
met a village battling longterm opium addiction,
the habit has corroded sociopolitical life in the
village.
While the Indian government is taking steps to
eradicate the problem, opium is readily available
through Myanmar - the second largest opium
producer in the world.
Opium is a highly addictive narcotic drug
acquired in the dried latex form from the opium
poppy (Papaver somniferum) seed pod. ... Heroin
(diacetylmorphine) is derived from the morphine
alkaloid found in opium and is roughly 2-3 times
more potent. A highly addictive drug..

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