Compilation of media articles, reports and journal articles on drugs, violence, militia and conflicts in Shan State, compiled as part of the GCRF Drugs and (dis)order project during the period February - August 2019. The dataset consist of a bibliography table with keywords and summaries, with reference to the online location of each item, or a copy of each item as PDF of Word file. Sixty articles / reports are in Burmese, 23 in English, 12 in Shan and 11 in Thai.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.
Media resources were compiled from online and offline resources on the topics of drug use, drug production, social impact of drugs, violence and militia, in order to create a database of relevant information on drug issues for the fieldwork sites Muse, Tachilek and Taunggyi. Searches were mainly carried out online, using the following keywords: • Drug use (opium / heroin); • Drug use (methamphetamines / 'yaba'); • Drug use (other); • Drug production (opium / heroin); • Drug production (methamphetamines / yaba); • Drug production (other); • Drug selling; • Social impact of drugs (e.g. on families); • Gender (e.g. impact of drugs on men or women); • Community responses to drugs; • Government responses to drugs; • Responses to drugs by armed groups; • Responses to drugs by foreign countries (e.g. China, Thailand, US); • Militias ('pyi thu sit'); • Armed conflict / violence; • Impact of drugs on health; • Investment of drug money into the legal economy; • Drug treatment (methadone, needles, hospital treatment etc.); • Responses by NGOs (national / international); Searches were carried out in multiple languages: Shan, Burmese, English, Thai and Chinese. Resources have been compiled from the Office of the Narcotics Control Board; ASEAN; SHAN News; Thai PBS; The Irrawaddy; Tai Freedom; Bangkok Post; New Mandala; Crisis Group; NY Times; Myanmar Peace Monitor; UNOPS; UNOCD; Burma Link; Frontier Myanmar; Network Media Group; Myanmar Times; South China Morning Post; Prachatai; and Kanbawza Tai News.
