Experts have warned that violent political unrest in Myanmar following the military takeover two years ago — which is now akin to a civil war between the military government and its pro-democracy opponents — has caused an increase in drug production.

The production of opium in Myanmar has flourished since the military’s seizure of power, with the cultivation of poppies up by a third in the past year as eradication efforts have dropped off and the faltering economy has pushed more people toward the drug trade, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime earlier this year.

Estimates of opium production were 400 metric tons (440 tons) in 2020, rising slightly in 2021, and then spiking in 2022 to an estimated 790 metric tons (870 tons), according to the report.

The UN agency has also warned of a huge increase in recent years in the production of methamphetamine, driving down prices and reaching markets through new smuggling routes.

The military government says some ethnic armed organisations that control large swaths of remote territory produce illicit drugs to fund their insurgencies and do not cooperate in the country’s peace process as they do not wish to relinquish the benefits they gain from the drug trade. Historically, some rebel ethnic groups have also used drug profits to fund their struggle for greater autonomy from the central government.

Most of the opium and heroin exported by Myanmar, along with methamphetamine, goes to other countries in Southeast Asia and China.