1 billion meth pills: East Asia, Southeast Asia drug industry hits ominous peak

BANGKOK: The number of methamphetamine tablets seized in East and Southeast Asia exceeded a billion last year for the first time, highlighting the scale of illegal drug production and trafficking in the region and the challenges of fighting it, the UN said Monday .

“Production and trafficking of methamphetamine jumped yet again as supply became super concentrated in the Mekong and in particular Thailand, Laos and Myanmar,” Jeremy Douglas, Southeast Asia regional representative for the UN agency, told the Associated Press in an email interview. Given the problem of limited governance and low attention to the issue, the UN agency said organised crime syndicates have the means to continue to produce more meth and to sell it to a growing, young population with increased spending power.In Myanmar, the military seized power from an elected government last year and is now engaged in an armed struggle against foes of military rule.

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