Kachin IDU

A drug addict is locked into a foot restraint as punishment for fighting with another at the drugs rehabilitation center in Myitkyina, Kachin State, northern Myanmar, 18 March 2017. Tens of thousands of Myanmar youth come to Hpakant, the land of Jade, in the far north of the state, with the hope and dreams of escaping from poverty and making their fortunes. But many of these migrant workers, instead, have their dreams of a better future dissolve into a nightmare of addiction, as they fall into the trap of cheap heroin. Hpakant region lies in the far northern most Kachin state in Myanmar. It is a harsh poor region, that, nevertheless, produces huge wealth, for some, as its land holds the rare mineral jadeite, the world’s highest quality jade.