YANGON (Reuters) - Unsuccessful jade scavengers in Myanmar seeking to assuage their despair are swelling a tide of drug abuse in Kachin state that presents a challenge for the untested government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi after its landslide election win.
Narcotics addiction is rife among the gem scavengers or "handpickers" who flock to the northern township of Hpakant, producer of some of the world's highest quality jade, in hopes of finding lumps of the precious stone overlooked by big miners.
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