More than a billion methamphetamine pills – 172 tonnes – were seized in 2021 in East and Southeast Asia, a record according to preliminary data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Apprehensions were seven times lower a decade ago.
“The scale and scope of the trade … is impressive,” said UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Jeremy Douglas, in a statement.
+ UK had record drug deaths in 2020
The “Golden Triangle”, on the borders of Myanmar (formerly Burma), Laos and Thailand, has been, for decades, the focal point of drug production in the region.
Since the Covid-19 crisis and the 2021 military coup in Myanmar, which plunged the country into chaos, criminal organizations “have all the ingredients they need to continue to develop the activity”, noted Jeremy Douglas.
Given the abundance of supply, prices in the wholesale and retail markets have dropped to historically low levels in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia.
The drug “has become much more accessible to those who previously could not afford it,” noted a UNODC regional analyst Kavinvadee Suppapongtevasakul.
“The social consequences of increased consumption are significant, especially as adequate health and harm reduction services remain limited across the region,” he added.
From clandestine laboratories in the jungles of Shan State in Myanmar, criminal groups in that country, Hong Kong and Macau transport the drug to Thailand, Laos and Malaysia, which in turn supply Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.
#Asia #breaks #record #methamphetamine #seizures