A report published in the summer of 2011 by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime asserts that somewhere between 24% to 39% of illicit amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) worldwide are consumed in East and Southeast Asia, where in particular are “now ranked among the top-three drugs of use in every single one of the 11 countries reviewed.
The report acknowledges the displacement of drugs traditionally used in these regions, heroin, opium, and cannabis among them. Drug treatment services existent in the affected regions are mostly still aimed toward these former conventional substances, indicating a lack of resource and structured outlet to a growing population of ATS users requiring treatment. According to the report “Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs: Asia and the Pacific,” the development of licit chemical and pharmaceutical company development provide a base of manufacture for these drugs to be consumed domestically.
Title: Ecstasy and methamphetamine increasingly becoming first choice drugs for many in East and South-East Asia according to new UNODC report (15 August 2011)
Source: addictionts.com, 6 October 2011
Author: addictionts.com
Student Researcher: Cary Escovedo, Sonoma state University
Faculty Evaluator: Sheila M. Katz, Sonoma State University