During the Ottoman period, following the emigration of village inhabitants to Thrace, Labs from the nearby Kurvelesh region were placed in Lazarat by Kaplan Pasha.

[1] Amidst the socio-political turbulence of the late eighteenth century in the area, Lazarat had bandits and it became a shelter for outlaws and criminals.

[1] Since the Albanian Government's attempts to stop the illegal cultivation of cannabis, there have been a growing number of activists from around the region demanding a special status for the small commune.

[8] On 24 June 2015, a member of the Albanian counter-terrorist force RENEA was shot and killed in the town, and two other soldiers wounded.

The United States Ambassador to Albania, Donald Lu, expressed condolences at the soldier's funeral, calling the incident a "national tragedy".

The village produced 900 tonnes of cannabis annually, worth €4.5bn, equivalent to around half of Albania's gross domestic product.