From the jungles of Myanmar to the streets of Hong Kong, police throughout Asia are fighting a war against methamphetamine.
By many indications, they're losing.
Demand for both crystal meth and yaba, tablets that typically contain a mixture of meth and caffeine, is skyrocketing. Production is increasing at an unprecedented clip, and so is the body count. Leaders in places like Bangladesh and the Philippines are waging deadly drug wars that have cost thousands of lives.
But this isn't "Breaking Bad" -- meth isn't just used by the poor and the downtrodden.
Meth no longer discriminates in Asia; it has become the dominant drug of choice across the region, irrespective of class, age or gender, according to Jeremy Douglas, who is in charge of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) southeast Asia operations.
Read the full article and more on CNN.
Authors
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Peter Harrell
Adjunct Senior Fellow, Energy, Economics and Security Program
Peter Harrell is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, where he focuses on the intersection of economics and national security. Research interest...
