Last year, the United Nations reported that more than one billion methamphetamine pills were seized in East and Southeast Asia; a record amount that reflects a “staggering” surge in the regional synthetic drug trade, according to the UN.

According to a recent report released on May 30 by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); meth manufacture and trafficking is on the rise in the Lower Mekong area; which includes Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar.

As a result, Asia’s drug gangs are able to flood markets with billions of dollars’ worth of synthetic narcotics; even as the world economy grapples with the Covid-19 pandemic. “The scale and reach of the methamphetamine; and synthetic drug trade in East and Southeast Asia is staggering,” said Jeremy Douglas; UNODC’s regional representative for Southeast Asia. “Yet it can continue to expand if the region does not change approach and address the root causes that have allowed it to get to this point.”
According to Douglas, organised crime groups have taken advantage of recent political instability, such as a military coup in Myanmar, which has left some border regions largely uncontrolled and easy to exploit, while customers have benefited from lower pricing.