Conflict Zones Are Magnets For Synthetic Drug Production

CHAOS IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS –

July 4, 2022 – Opium production worldwide grew seven per cent between 2020 and 2021 to 7,930 tons—predominantly due to increased production in Afghanistan. However, the global area under opium poppy cultivation fell by 16 per cent to 246,800 ha in the same period.

In many countries in Africa and South and Central America, the most significant proportion of people in treatment for drug use disorders is there primarily for cannabis use disorders. In Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and Central Asia, people are most often treated for opioid use disorders.

In the United States, preliminary estimates refer to more than 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021, up from nearly 92,000 in 2020.

Conflict zones are magnets for synthetic drug production.

This year’s report also highlights that illicit drug economies can flourish in conflict situations and where the rule of law is weak, which can prolong or fuel conflict. Information from the Middle East and South-East Asia suggests that conflict situations can act as a magnet for manufacturing synthetic drugs, which can be produced anywhere. This effect may be more significant when the conflict area is close to large consumer markets.

“We have seen cases like this on models from Afghanistan with the Taliban, Colombia and FARC’s, Peru and the Shining Path, the civil war in Syria and the ethnic conflict in Myanmar,” adds the UNODC Research Office. For example, mainly from Syria and Myanmar, we have learned that conflicts are a magnet for attracting criminal activity, especially when it comes to synthetic drugs. What happened in Myanmar: the production of methamphetamine and exports to neighbouring countries, Dr Pietschmann recalls.