Drugs and (Dis)order Key Informant Interviews in Kachin State Myanmar, 2019

Collection of 194 face-to-face semi-structured interviews with interviewees in Kachin State, northern Myanmar, carried out as part of the GCRF Drugs and (dis)order project. Interviews were carried out in the second year of the project to gather in-depth evidence on key research themes selected based on emerging findings from the 2018 interviews. Interviews focused on the themes (1) drugs and processes of political and economic change, (2) drugs and social change and the impact on families, and (3) responses to drugs and the impact of drug interventions.

Drugs & (dis)order is a Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) project generating new evidence on how to transform illicit drug economies into peace economies in Afghanistan, Colombia and Myanmar. By 2030, more than 50% of the world’s poor will live in fragile and conflict-affected states. And many of today’s armed conflicts are fuelled by illicit drug economies in borderland regions. Trillions of dollars have been spent on the War on Drugs, but securitised approaches have failed. In fact, they often increase state fragility and adversely affect the health and livelihoods of communities and households. In light of these failures, there’s increasing recognition that drug policies need to be more pro-poor and aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). But the evidence base for this policy reform is patchy, politicised and contested. Drugs & (dis)order is helping to generate pro-poor policy solutions to transform illicit economies into peace economies. To do this we will: (1) Generate a robust evidence base on illicit drug economies and their effects on armed conflict, public health and livelihoods. (2) Identify new approaches and policy solutions to build more inclusive development and sustainable livelihoods in drugs affected contexts. (3) Build a global network of researchers and institutions in Afghanistan, Colombia, Myanmar and the UK to continue this work.

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