Global drug syndicates target region

The Asia Pacific region is being targeted by drug traffickers because of its economic growth and large youth population, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) warns.

In its latest report, the UN body says growing demand for drugs in the region is also driving up global production of methamphetamine.

Roughly a third of the estimated $90 billion illegal economy in Asia comes from drugs, said Jeremy Douglas, UNODC regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

“We’re seeing Asia in particular starting to be heavily targeted by criminal organisations from the Americas, from Africa, and growth within the organised crime groups within Asia,” he said.

“The region has really grown economically and people’s disposable incomes have grown a lot, and the traffickers have noticed this, they’ve been targeting money generated in Southeast Asia.”

Douglas says methamphetamine has also been trafficked from Southeast Asia to Pacific countries like Fiji.

Pacific island nations are also vulnerable to trafficking and transit because of lax border patrols.

“The Pacific is ripe for trafficking and transit because the countries don’t have capacity to patrol their boundaries or territory,” Douglas said.

The report reveals methamphetamine seizures in the region has tripled in five years to record levels.

Douglas attributes this to a combination of improved law enforcement and increased production.

“In some parts of Southeast Asia where we’ve seen rising seizures, it’s because of good work done by the international community to help the countries to become more aware of how to identify and stop drugs that are being trafficked,” he said.

“At the same time it’s clearly a reflection of growth and change in the market.”

The report emphasises the tremendous stress synthetic drug markets place on health and legal systems worldwide.

In Thailand, more than 70 per cent of prisoners are involved in drug cases – the majority of which are linked to synthetic drugs.

“That is an enormous burden on the state systems to essentially warehouse these people,” Douglas said. “At the same time we also see an attempt by this country and neighbouring states to try to deal with it through drug treatment.

“We’re seeing huge state expenditure on drug treatment, some of it very ineffective, unfortunately because again, it’s almost prison like conditions where people are being treated.”

Methamphetamine, also called “meth” and “ice”, is an extremely addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system.

To compile the latest report, the UNODC grouped together methamphetamine, amphetamine and other similar chemicals as “amphetamine-type stimulants” or ATS.

It excluded so-called “ecstasy” drugs, which are usually reported separately in drug surveys.