China urged to act to stem Myanmar's meth trade
Report says Shan state is 'the highest producer' of the illegal drug
China should rein in the methamphetamine-producing militias under its influence in eastern Myanmar and stem the flow of precursor chemicals fuelling the multi-billion-dollar drug trade, a report said yesterday.
Myanmar's Shan state is now thought to be one of the largest producers -- if not the largest producer -- of meth in the world, feeding a growing market that stretches as far as Japan and Australia.
Myanmar also remains the second biggest source country for opium and heroin after Afghanistan.
But many drugs networks have in recent years switched to synthetic methamphetamine pills -- known regionally as "yaba", Thai for "crazy medicine" -- and crystal meth or "ice", a much more potent and addictive version that is smoked or injected.
Various militias provide a safe haven for the booming industry, while precursor chemicals flow over the border from China, conflict specialist NGO International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.
Drug production and profits are now so vast that they "dwarf" the formal sector in Shan State and are at the "centre of its political economy", the report added.
The NGO urged China to "crack down" on the illegal trade of precursors across its southwestern border, where it said traffickers have been given free reign.
It also urged China to use its influence over ethnic armed groupsin the region, widely seen as the region's key narcotics producers.
Several billion dollars are estimated to be made each year in Myanmar for crystal meth, the ICG said, with Japan and Australia offering the highest street prices in the world.
Meanwhile, regional prices for yaba have collapsed to the lowest prices in decades as producers dump huge quantities of Southeast Asia's favourite high on the market.