Illegal drug production, trafficking at alarming levels in Asia-Pacific

MANILA, Philippines — Methamphetamine production and trafficking in Asia-Pacific have reached alarming levels in recent years, with current seizures already exceeding records set in 2017 and the oversupply leading to a decrease in street prices across the region, a report said.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), supply from the Golden Triangle vastly exceeds market demand in the surrounding Mekong region and Southeast Asia, and it is a primary source of supply for Australia, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

The Golden Triangle is an area of about 950,000 square kilometers where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers. 

The oversupply of methamphetamine has led to declining street prices across the region, with yaba tablets now available for $1-$5, down from $5-$15 in 2014, the UNODC said.

A similar decline in the price of crystal methamphetamine (shabu) has taken place across the region, making both forms of the drug more affordable and accessible, it added.

The UNODC also said powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl are being produced, diverted and trafficked in and from the region to North America and recently Australia, where they are being mixed into the opiate and heroin markets to maximize profits. 

The UNODC further said significant illicit production of ketamine was found in the Golden Triangle, primarily for export to China and Thailand, and it is increasingly being trafficked across the region in mixed shipments with methamphetamine.

“The surge in synthetic drugs, particularly meth, that can be traced back to Shan in Myanmar is like nothing we have ever seen before, and it has required a matching surge in precursor chemicals,” UNODC Regional Representative Jeremy Douglas warned.

“At this point the trade is worth billions of dollars to the larger transnational organized crime groups as they have consolidated production into safe havens and started trafficking to increasingly distant markets,” Douglas noted.

Douglas said the levels of production “we’re now seeing would simply not be possible without a steady and rising supply of precursor chemicals of one type or another.”

But at the same time, Douglas said governments are reporting little if any seizure of chemicals and pharmaceuticals that can be used to make synthetics drugs, indicating traffickers source them easily and move them freely across borders.

UNODC said countries with large industries in the region need to participate in a coordinated regional strategy and program to combat the problem.

High-level delegations from East, South and Southeast Asia met in the capital of Myanmar, Nay Pyi Taw, recently to consider the deteriorating synthetic drug situation in the region and negotiate a new strategy to address the diversion and trafficking of precursor chemicals used in production.