Counternarcotics and Law Enforcement Country Program: Laos

U.S. Government Programs

Current INL funding is prioritized to focus on assisting the Government of Laos to sustain progress made to date and further reduce opium cultivation and rehabilitate some 15,000 long term opium addicts who are on source of opium supply demand.

INL’s ongoing counternarcotics program in Laos focuses on alternative development, demand reduction and training for counternarcotics law enforcement units.

• In 2009, according to the annual UNODC opium survey, the area under opium cultivation in Laos was estimated at 1,900 hectares, up from an approximately 1,600 hectares in 2008. While this slight increase is worth watching, the area under cultivation in 2009 still represents a 95% reduction since 1989.

Program Components/Accomplishments

• The INL counternarcotics program has been in existence since 1989, at which time Laos had approximately 42,000 hectares under opium cultivation.
  
  
• INL’s programs have helped the Government of Laos make significant gains in poppy elimination and have brought them close to the threshold required to recommend removing Laos from the President’s list of major illicit drug producing and drug-transit countries (the Majors list).
  
  
• FY 2009 funding supports continued work with the Government of Laos to train counternarcotics law enforcement units, sustain drug treatment and rehabilitation programs, and target media and education projects to reduce the demand for narcotics, including the growing and dangerous trend toward amphetamine type substances.

U.S. Government Funding FY2005-2009

• FY 2005 – $1,984,000 (INCLE)
• FY 2006 – $990,000 (INCLE)
• FY 2007 – $900,000 (INCLE)
• FY 2008 – $1,567,000 (INCLE)
• FY 2009 – $1,000,000 (INCLE)
• FY 2010 – $1,000,000 (INCLE)

INCLE: International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement Funds