‘We do this to survive’: Harvesting opium poppies in Myanmar’s Shan State | Drugs News

Southern Shan State, Myanmar – Tian Win Nang squats on the hard-packed earth, balancing a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of chocolate-coloured raw opium in each hand like a human weighing scales.

“Each kilogramme is worth around $250,” said Tian Win Nang, wearing worn white flip-flops and a black T-shirt.

The son of poppy farmers, Tian Win Nang appears to be barely out of his teens.

“Chinese traders pay us in advance for the harvest,” he said, showing Al Jazeera three dinner-plate-sized…