Policies and programs specifically addressing the “hill tribes” have been implemented since the late 1950s after the creation of the Central Hill Tribe Committee and later the Hill Tribe Welfare Division within the Ministry of Interior. Until the 1980s, Thai policies toward indigenous peoples were dominated by concerns about opium cultivation and communist insurgency. By the 1980s, deforestation and control of resources in the uplands became important national issues and in 1982, the “Committee for the Solution of National Security Problems involving Hill Tribes and the Cultivation of Narcotic Crops” was established to implement and coordinate policies (including the Master Plans for the Development of Highland Populations, Environment and Control of Narcotic Crops, and the National Economic and Social Development Plans) aimed at indigenous peoples. The objectives of these policies, which are still effective at present, include the integration of the indigenous peoples into Thai society, the reorganization of their way of life, the elimination of opium cultivation and consumption, the reduction of population growth, and improvement of living standards.