MYANMAR DRUG BURN IS MORE THAN A DOG-AND-PONY SHOW

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Close to a billion dollars in opium, heroin and
amphetamines went up in smoke Saturday as authorities in Myanmar sought to
impress foreign governments and media with the seriousness of their efforts
to stamp out the illicit drug trade.

The destruction of seized drugs was staged to coincide with a regional
meeting held to coordinate the anti-drug efforts of Cambodia, China, Laos,
Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

The three-day meeting, held under the auspices of the United Nations
International Drug Control Program, ended Friday, but many delegates stayed
on to see Myanmar's real efforts in the field.

Drug burnings have become a ritual in Southeast Asian countries, making a
public relations virtue out of the necessity to dispose of the dangerous
drugs. Myanmar has conducted 15 such events.

On Saturday, the seized drugs were laid out along tables set end to end for
about 66 feet.

The drugs - including 2,862 pounds of opium, 255 pounds of heroin, 968
pounds of marijuana and 2.7 million amphetamine tablets - were mostly in
their original packing: brown paper wrapping, plastic bags and jute sacks.
Below the tables was gasoline-soaked wood for kindling.

The total street value of the drugs in the United States would be $920
million, officials said.

At each of these drug burning events, foreign drug experts are invited to
test random samples.

A typical program includes slicing open a bag and dropping a sample into a
test solution: amphetamine turns the solution orange, heroin a shade of purple.

Observers are then motioned back for the big moment. A button ignites a
fire that engulfs the table, burning the packets and sending white powder
spilling to the ground.

The opium burns slowly, like peat. Heroin, its derivative, burns slightly
faster. The marijuana burns like the dry leaves it is. Amphetamines send
flames high into the air, burning fiercely with huge heat and billowing
black smoke.

Afghanistan and Myanmar are the top two producers of opium and heroin.
Hoping to shake off its unsavory reputation, Myanmar is eager to show off
its drug-fighting efforts.

While Myanmar's military government has curbed opium production
considerably, the country has in recent years become a major source of
methamphetamine, the cheap and popular stimulant that is wreaking social
havoc in several Asian nations.

Police Maj. Gen. Soe Win, secretary of the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control, said Myanmar cannot be blamed entirely for methamphetamine
production because other countries supplying the raw materials have an
obligation to tighten their law enforcement.