Amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) - Myanmar
Individual Documents
| Title: | | Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs, Asia and the Pacific, 2012 (Myanmar section and full report) |
| Date of publication: | | December 2012 |
| Description/subject: | | Emerging trends and concerns:
• Myanmar remains a major source of methamphetamine pills and opiates in South-East Asia, most of which
are manufactured in Shan State in the eastern part of the country.
• For the first time, a crystalline methamphetamine manufacturing facility was seized in 2012.
• Large amounts of methamphetamine in pill and crystalline form originating from Myanmar continue to be
seized in neighbouring countries.
• Precursor chemicals are trafficked from neighbouring countries to methamphetamine manufacturing
centres located near Myanmar’s eastern border, where Government control remains limited.
• Preliminary data for 2012 suggests that seizures of illicit drugs and their precursor chemicals have increased
significantly.
• Opium poppy cultivation has increased in Myanmar for six consecutive years |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (144K-Myanmar_section; 1.32MB-full report) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.unodc.org/documents/eastasiaandpacific/2012/12/ats-2012/2012_Regional_ATS_Report_FINAL_H... |
| Date of entry/update: | | 13 December 2012 |
|
| Title: | | Myanmar: Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants |
| Date of publication: | | 20 December 2010 |
| Description/subject: | | "...According to the latest Myanmar Situation Assessment on Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS), the manufacture, trafficking and consumption of synthetic drugs in the country and region is worsening.
Published by UNODC, the report indicates that the impact of methamphetamine and other ATS trafficked from Myanmar affects not only the country's immediate neighbours but also parts of East and South-East Asia. Speaking on this, Deepika Naruka, East Asia and the Pacific Regional Coordinator for the Global Synthetics Monitor: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme, noted: "There are indications that the methamphetamine problem in Myanmar is becoming more severe. In 2009, large seizures of high purity crystalline methamphetamine were made in Myanmar. Authorities in both Myanmar and Thailand confirm that the manufacture of crystalline methamphetamine is now occurring in the Golden Triangle..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (2.9MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/Myanmar_ATS_Report_2010_lowres.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 22 December 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs in East and South-East Asia (and neighbouring regions) 2009 - Myanmar |
| Date of publication: | | November 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Overview of drug use (Myanmar):
"The main drugs of use in Myanmar during the past decade have been heroin which is primarily injected
and opium which is primarily smoked. Prevalence estimates vary, but the number of opioid users are likely
in the hundreds of thousands (UNODC, 2004).
Emerging in the mid-1990s, methamphetamine has become a prominent drug of concern. Since 2004,
methamphetamine has ranked third in terms of use behind the two leading drugs. Since 2005, methamphetamine
has accounted for about a quarter of all drug related arrests, while heroin and opium together
have accounted for more than half.
A survey in 2005 conducted by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) among high
school students in the towns of Tamu, Muse, Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthaung indicates low lifetime
prevalence rates for this sub-population of youth. With the exception of cough syrups, drug use prevalence
was less than 2%. However, the survey points out that results may have been higher had the survey
been expanded to include the significant number of youth who did not attend high school.
Illicit manufacture of methamphetamine, primarily in pill form (yaba), continues, particularly in the Shan,
Wa, and Kokang autonomous region.
The political situation in Myanmar in 2009 is unsettled, with open hostilities between government and
ethnic groups previously under cease fire agreement. This instability could affect the current illicit drug
production and trafficking dynamics in the region. There is a likelihood that these changing conditions
will serve as a push factor for increasing the trafficking of illicit drugs and could result in the relocation
of clandestine manufacturing sites across the border. Also, the areas along the Lao PDR and Cambodia
border could experience increased trafficking activity with the possibility that clandestine lab operations
may be established in these areas..." |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (516K; 5.8MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/UNODC-2009_Patterns_and_Trends-red.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 29 November 2009 |
|
| Title: | | A Crazy Business -- review of "Merchants of Madness" by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black |
| Date of publication: | | April 2009 |
| Description/subject: | | Merchants of Madness: The Methamphetamine Explosion in the Golden Triangle by Bertil Lintner and Michael Black; Silkworm Press, 2009. P 176..."...FEW international policy makers care to look at a major reason for the decline of opium in Burma. The market shift in production from opiates to amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) saw syndicates in Burma manufacture hundreds of millions of cheap speed pills for sale to neighboring countries.
Merchants of Madness, by Bertil Lintner and co-author Michael Black, takes the reader on a wild ride through the history of that transition and exposes the main players behind it: ethnic Wa warlords, Chinese drug lords and local thugs, all protected by the Burmese military to sustain the country's largest export after natural gas..." |
| Author/creator: | | David Scott Mathieson |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 2 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 02 April 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Withdrawal Symptoms - Changes in the Southeast Asian drugs market |
| Date of publication: | | August 2008 |
| Description/subject: | | The Golden Triangle is closing a dramatic
period of opium reduction”, wrote UNODC
Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa in his
preface to the 2007 survey on Opium Poppy
Cultivation in South East Asia. “A decade long
process of drug control is clearly paying off.”
According to the survey, the region produced
one-third of world opium production in 1998,
now down to only about 5 percent. The once
notorious region “can no longer be called
Golden Triangle on the reason of opium
production alone.”
There has clearly been a significant decline in
opium production in Southeast Asia over the
past decade in spite of a resurgence in Burma
(Myanmar) in the last two years. In this study,
we try to assess the causes and consequences,
and come to the conclusion that the region is
suffering a variety of withdrawal symptoms’,
leaving little reason for optimism.
The rapid decline has caused major suffering
among former poppy growing communities
in Burma and Laos, making it difficult to
characterise developments as a success story’.
Meanwhile, the market of amphetamine-type
stimulants (ATS) has increased rapidly and
higher heroin prices are leading to shifts in
consumer behaviour. While the total numbers
of opium and heroin users may be going
down, many have started to inject and others
have shifted to a cocktail of pharmaceutical
replacements, representing largely unknown
health risks.
Confronted with harsh domestic repression
and little support from the international
community, both farmers and users in the
region are struggling to find coping strategies
to deal with the rapid changes. Drug control
officials have presumed that reducing opium
production would automatically lead to a
reduction in drug consumption and drugrelated
problems. The reality in Southeast Asia
proves them wrong. Had quality treatment
services been in place, more drug users may
have chosen that option. In the absence of
adequate health care and within a highly
repressive law enforcement environment,
however, most are forced to find their own
solutions’. Harm reduction services are still
only accessible to a tiny proportion of those
who need them in the region, even though
most countries have now adopted the basic
principles in their policy framework. China,
especially, has started to significantly scale up
needle exchange and methadone programmes
to prevent a further spreading of blood-borne
infections. In 1998, the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting signed
the declaration for a Drug-Free ASEAN by
2020 and two years later even decided to bring
forward the target year to 2015. Countries
elaborated national plans to comply with
the deadline putting huge pressure on rural
communities to abandon poppy cultivation
and traditional opium use and on police to
arrest as many users and traders as possible.
This also led to the 2003 war on drugs’ in
Thailand in which thousands of drug users
and small-scale traders were killed. The 2008
status report on progress achieved towards
making ASEAN and China drug-free, “identifies
an overall rising trend in the abuse of drugs”,
however, and acknowledges that “a target
of zero drugs for production, trafficking and
consumption of illicit drugs in the region by
2015 is obviously unattainable”.
This TNI publication makes extensive use of
the research carried out by our team of fifteen
researchers working in Burma, Thailand, Laos
and Yunnan province in China. Hundreds of
interviews were conducted with farmers, users
and traders. We cannot thank them enough
for their motivation and courage. Most prefer
to remain anonymous and continue their
research to detect new trends and help fill
gaps in knowledge that have become apparent
while writing this first report. A more detailed
publication incorporating their latest findings
is due at the end of this year. We intend to
discuss our outcomes with authorities, civil
society and researchers in the region with a
view to contributing to a better understanding
of the changes taking place in the regional
drugs market and to design more effective and
humane drug policy responses for the future. |
| Author/creator: | | Tom Kramer, Martin Jelsma |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Transnational Institute (TNI) Debate Papers No. 16 |
| Format/size: | | pdf (688K) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.idpc.net/publications/changes-in-southeast-asian-drugs-market |
| Date of entry/update: | | 11 August 2010 |
|
| Title: | | Alles nur Show Business - Rangoons “Krieg gegen die Drogen” im Shan Staat |
| Date of publication: | | 22 June 2007 |
| Description/subject: | | Die vorliegende Untersuchung entlarvt den angeblichen “Krieg gegen die Drogen”, den Burmas Militärregime im Shan Staat zu führen vorgibt, als eine reine Farce. Er liefert Beweise dafür, dass die Drogenindustrie vielmehr einen integralen Teil der Regimepolitik darstellt, um das Gebiet des Shan Staats ruhigzustellen und zu kontrollieren.
"Pseudo"-War against drugs in Shan-State; Neutralitaion of the Shan |
| Language: | | German, Deutsch |
| Source/publisher: | | Burma Riders |
| Date of entry/update: | | 21 August 2007 |
|
| Title: | | Hand in Glove - The Burma Army and the drug trade in Shan State |
| Date of publication: | | August 2006 |
| Description/subject: | | "...In a way, this report starts off from where our last report
"Show Business: Rangoon's War on Drugs in Shan State"
(2003) left off.
It describes the unimaginable extent of corruption in Burma, and the live-off-the-land policy
of Burmese military units that has forced local authorities to turn a blind eye to drug activities.
It also exposes how cultivation of opium poppies has increased, and gives insight into the
production and trade of methamphetamines, better known as yaba in Thailand and yama in
Shan State.
The major difference is that whereas "Show Business" focused mostly on opium and its
derivative heroin, Hand in Glove puts the spotlight more on yaba. It also highlights the
growing role of pro-Rangoon militia in the drug trade, as the regime has begun openly
favouring them over the ceasefire groups..."
1. Military collusion in the drug trade:
- Rain leaking from the roof;
- Military expansion and "self reliance"...
2. Opium trends:
- Poppy upsurge since 2004;
- Bumper 2005-2006 crop;
- Selective slashing;
- Opium output decreasing or increasing?...
3. Churning out the pills:
- Factories;
- The precursors;
- Brands...
4. Shipping out...
5. Militia on the rise:
- New faces...
6. Crackdown charades...
7. Drug use in Shan State:
- Rehabilitation efforts...
8. Conclusion...
Appendix:
Burma Army units reported to be involved in the drug trade. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N.) |
| Format/size: | | pdf (1.9MB) |
| Alternate URLs: | | http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs07/HandinGlove.pdf |
| Date of entry/update: | | 02 August 2006 |
|
| Title: | | Yaa Baa: Production, Traffic and Consumption of Methamphetamine in mainland Southeast Asia |
| Date of publication: | | 2004 |
| Description/subject: | | This Google Book "Preview" presents snippets of the full text, including the Table of Contents and selected end-notes...
Book overview:
"This book's main contribution is that it is the first to deal with methamphetamines in Southeast Asia, the abuse of which is spreading rapidly, especially in Thailand. Until only about a decade ago, the drug, known in Thai as yaa maa (horse medicine), was used mainly by truck drivers and construction workers. But in the early 1990s, large-scale production of cheap methamphetamines (now known as yaa baa, or madness medicine) in Burma began."...addiction amphetamine amphetamine-type stimulants Army baht Bangkok Post become behaviour border Burma Burmese Cambodia cent Chiang children China Chinese Communist consumption country culture dealers Dovert drogues Drug Control drug trade drug trafficking du economic ecstasy effects Ephedra ephedrine et family Farmers Research Centre geopolitical Geopolitique Global Golden Triangle groups heroin Illegal Drugs illicit drug increase individuals International Interview jao pho junta Khun Koong la laboratories labourers Laos Laotian Les Mae mainland Southeast Asia market methamphetamine pills methamphetamine production military Narcotics Control Board Nualnoi Treerat number Office of Narcotics opium production parents Paris Phongpaichit police population prostitution province psychotropic region school Shan social students Study on Illegal substances tablets take Thai Farmers Research Thai society Thailande contemporaine United Nations urban users UWSA village wholesalers workers yaa baa consumers young Thais |
| Author/creator: | | Pierre-Arnoud Chouvy, Joel Meissonier |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | National University of Singapore |
| Format/size: | | pdf? |
| Date of entry/update: | | 19 July 2009 |
|
| Title: | | Yaa baa: Production, trafic et consommation de mthamphtamine en Asie du Sud-Est continentale. |
| Date of publication: | | October 2002 |
| Description/subject: | | A PARAITRE (Octobre 2002). Yaa baa, "le mdicament qui rend fou". En Thalande le surnom de la mthamphtamine sonne comme un avertissement, mais il n'a pas dissuad des centaines de milliers de Thalandais, jeunes pour la plupart, de s'y adonner avec plus ou moins de retenue. "Drogue de travail" ou "drogue de loisir", il s'agit d'un vritable phnomne de socit qui n'est pas tranger aux volutions conomiques et aux mutations culturelles qu' connu le royaume au cours de ces dernires dcennies.
Ce livre s'efforce de donner des explications un engouement qui touche galement d'autres pays de la rgion. Il replace la consommation de mthamphtamine dans les logiques du narcotrafic dont les ressorts sont rechercher aux marges orientales de la Birmanie, en plein cur du Triangle d'Or." Table des Matieres et INtroduction. |
| Author/creator: | | Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy et Jol Meissonnier |
| Language: | | Francais, French |
| Source/publisher: | | IRASEC - L'Harmattan |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | Yaa Baa Finding New Users |
| Date of publication: | | July 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | Methamphetamines, or yaa baa, as the latest scourge of Thai society is known locally, are claiming new victims amongst the country's huge Burmese refugee and migrant communities, according to numerous sources. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8. No. 7 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | War on Drugs, War on the Wa |
| Date of publication: | | April 2000 |
| Description/subject: | | In April, Thailand and Burma held a high-level meeting in Tachilek, where Burmese officials agreed to cooperate in fighting the flow of drugs into Thailand. But as it becomes increasingly apparent that Rangoon has no intention of delivering on its promise, Thailand may be looking to take matters into its own hands. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 8. No. 4-5 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
|
| Title: | | "Mad Pill" Takes Its Toll in Northern Shan State |
| Date of publication: | | August 1999 |
| Description/subject: | | A report on the situation of amphetamine abuse in Shan State along the northern borders with China, contributed by the Shan Herald Agency for News. |
| Language: | | English |
| Source/publisher: | | "The Irrawaddy", Vol. 7. No. 7 |
| Format/size: | | html |
| Date of entry/update: | | 03 June 2003 |
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