More than a billion methamphetamine tablets were seized in East and South-East Asia last year, a shocking record. The United Nations says this shows a surprising increase in regional synthetic drug trade! Methamphetamine is a synthetic drug with faster and more lasting effects than amphetamine, used illegally as a stimulant. According to a recent report released by UN OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME, the production and trafficking of meth in the Lower Mekong region has increased rapidly in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar. It enables Asia’s drug cartel to flood the market with billions of dollars worth of synthetic drugs.
The scale and reach of methamphetamine and synthetic drug trade in East and South-East Asia is astonishing and yet it could continue to expand if these regions do not change their approach and address the root causes. Who have paved the way to reach this point. Organized crime groups have taken advantage of recent political instability. Such as the military coup in Myanmar that has left some border areas largely easy to exploit without law! Which infiltration into another country is natural. When falling prices are tempting for customers! In South-East Asia, for example, in Malaysia and Thailand, the purity of the drug remains high. The steady decline in the price of crystal methamphetamine means that high-purity substances are available at affordable prices!
Organized crime syndicates have all the ingredients needed to keep this business growing. These include the territory to be produced, access to chemicals, established trafficking routes and relationships to move the product and the huge population with the power to spend to create the target. They look at the region and keep an eye on potential profits! South-East Asia is a vast region with a population of over 680 million people in 11 countries! Methamphetamine is a multibillion-dollar booming trade that has shifted opium and its derivatives to form a rampant illicit drug for both use and export.
Some crimes in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam carry the death penalty! Despite the region being known for having the world’s strictest drug laws, the drug industry has flourished! One of Asia’s biggest drug busts took place in Laos last October, when local police seized more than half a million methamphetamine pills in a single raid! The UN agency notes that Cambodia is home to a growing number of drug producers. A secret laboratory was demolished there last year. An industrial-scale facility was established for the production of ketamine and potentially other drugs.
Even when the calamity struck human beings, the enemies of humanity were making the whole human race into a drug-addicted, black market! The number of drug addicts has increased by almost half! That cycle is constantly increasing. Then in many Asian countries the administration is lame, there is still political instability. Inflation and chaos have become an open door for the drug industry. Large quantities of narcotics have been seized at the country’s borders, seized at ports. The governments of South-East Asian countries must find drug mafias to eradicate this cycle before it becomes more toxic. Have to fight.
– Kusum Thakkar