NAN-F-34
Market
Bangkok, June 1, 2017 (dpa/NAN) The methamphetamine market in East and South-East Asia has been booming over the past decade, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said on Thursday as they inaugurated a new report.
The UNODC said the market had grown substantially since 2006, when just over 10 tons of methamphetamine tablets and crystalline methamphetamine were seized.
“That figure grew to 60 tons in 2015, the figures for 2016, which are yet to be disclosed, are expected to reach another historic level.
“In comparison to the rapidly growing popularity of methamphetamine in the region, the amount of heroin seized in the past decade grew minimally, from 10 tons to 15 tons.
“Methamphetamine is popular because it costs less and is safer than heroin, the injection of which carries a risk of HIV infection,” the UNODC said.
The UN agency reported that 168 new psychoactive substances had been identified in the past decade.
These highly toxic substances are being manufactured in Asia and exported to North America, where they have been implicated in ‘the ongoing opium overdose crisis.
The UNODC is worried that a similar epidemic may occur in Asia.
“There is a high risk of these substances gaining a stronger foothold in the region,’’ said Martin Raithelhuber, a UNODC expert on illicit synthetic drugs.
“Limited forensic capacity to detect and identify these new drugs, coupled with limited knowledge about health risks, mean they may remain undetected for a considerable length of time,’’ Raithelhuber warned. (dpa/NAN)
OYE/EEE
=======
Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Ese E. Ekama