Overview

The East and South-East Asia region, home to about 28% of the human populace, is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. As a result of globalization, the countries in the region have also become more interdependent. As such the challenges within any sector - be it governance, development, infrastructure, trade and economy, environment, health or security - of a particular country, have a ripple effect across the region. One such issue and challenge is the threat posed by synthetic drugs. In recent years, although the overall drug problem globally is being contained, there have been several regional shifts, in the production, trafficking as well as consumption patterns. More people use ATS than heroin and cocaine combined. The manufacture of ATS has been reported by nearly a third of all Member States around the world, and it is increasingly spreading throughout the developing world. There is no better example of this reality than the countries of East and South-East Asia, where the impact of ATS affects so many people.

There are indications of increasing demand for methamphetamine in Thailand which will likely have wide implications for neighbouring countries, such as the likelihood of increased trafficking and risk of clandestine laboratory operations being established or increased in border areas of Lao PDR and Cambodia. Viet Nam may emerge as a vulnerable market as methamphetamine manufacturers seek to diversify away from their reliance on the Thai market. In addition, the changing political situation in Myanmar in 2009 might serve as a push factor for illicit drugs and relocation of clandestine manufacturing sites across its borders.

Although methamphetamine in pill form remains the dominant form of methamphetamine in the Greater Mekong Sub-region, the availability of crystalline methamphetamine with considerably higher purity is likely to expand with a subsequent increase in use, particularly that of injecting drug use. The scale of ATS manufacturing in Indonesia is already large and the country may potentially displace Europe as a supply source for ecstasy in the region. Malaysia is at a high risk of becoming a major consumer market for ATS as large amounts are trafficked into the country in addition to large-scale domestic manufacturing.

Development is accelerating in the region leading to new infrastructure and trade initiatives. The resulting increased movement of persons, traffic and cargo, provide opportunities that can be exploited by traffickers unless adequate mechanisms and capacities are in place in terms of law enforcement and customs. Although countries in the region are already gearing up to tackle the emerging ATS situation, data indicate that more needs to be done in terms of consolidated responses from the security and health perspectives. Challenges in some countries remain in terms of disparate levels of analysis, data generation and forensics. Also, the health implications including the treatment facilities and challenges posed by associated dimensions such as injecting drug use and HIV/AIDS, need to be understood further. This is necessary for adequate responses to these issues, both in terms of the quality as well as the quantity.

The harvesting of trees for the extraction of safrole-rich oils has been illegal in Cambodia since 2005. Although there is currently no evidence that the seized safrole-rich oils produced in Cambodia are used to manufacture MDMA, significant seizures continue to be made and the likelihood of illicit use for exists. These large-scale operations have a huge environmental impact from deforestation and the chemical pollution from their production.

Consolidated data on the ATS markets in South Asia and the smaller Pacific Island nations are limited, but increasingly suggest that ATS is spreading. South Asia is attractive to organized crime groups seeking to manufacture ATS due to the large precursor chemical industry and the potential market. The established presence of clandestine laboratories for synthetic drug manufacture risks a spill-over into the local market. There are already indications of methamphetamine use in the vulnerable Pacific Islands nations. Very few countries have adopted the frameworks for international drug control, and the absence of formal drug surveillance systems for monitoring illicit drug use and emerging drug trends, leads to very sporadic and limited data reporting - either nationally or regionally.