In Thailand, farming revolution rescued entire communities from opium addiction. But it can’t happen without land rights for villagers

Somchai Sophonsookpaiboon does not remember much about his younger years, except that they were spent in an opium haze.It’s how all the men in his mountain village on the Thai-Myanmar border spent their time. Stateless, with little access to education, jobs or health care, their only options were trading opium or walking to the nearest town for odd jobs.Somchai’s life turned around after the late Princess Srinagarindra, grandmother of Thailand’s current king, set up a development project in…