'Our only option': Opium farming takes root in war-torn Myanmar

"Before the coup, I was just an ordinary farmer," says Aung Hla, one of many in Myanmar who have turned to opium production in the wake of the 2021 seizure of power by the junta. The 35-year-old used to farm rice before he was forced from his land by fighting, a common experience across the war-battered country. Like many displaced farmers, Hla has found poppies to be a more reliable source of income than other agricultural products, but says he wouldn't be cultivating opium - the key ingredient in heroin - if he had "any other choice."