As a result of increased anti-drug pressure from the United States, Laotian officials have displaced 65,000 hill tribe people from the mountains in northern Laos to lowland settlements since 2000. Recent surveys by a UN development consultant show that the relocated indigenous people lack food and basic necessities and the mortality rate has risen by four percent as a result of increased exposure to disease. The Laotian government previously tolerated opium poppy cultivation in the northern hills for small scale use as medicine and traditional ceremonies. Development specialists and critics of the government's eradication policy suggest that Laos implement a legal quota of opium poppy for pharmaceutical companies to revive indigenous peoples' way of life in the highlands. According to the BBC, Laotian authorities are currently resisting this solution.
