By Sri Lanka has been identified as one of the centres that redistributes methamphetamine. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), methamphetamines – also known as meth – are part of the group of drugs called Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS).
They are synthetic drugs that are usually manufactured in illegal laboratories and come in the form of a powder, a tablet, or as crystals that look like shards of glass.
It is understood that while all forms of methamphetamines are available in Sri Lanka, it is most frequently available in tablet and crystal forms. The crystal form, popularly known as ice, is usually smoked or injected by users.
Myanmar is flooding methamphetamine into countries across Asia, reaching as far as Australia and Saudi Arabia. Myanmar and its remote borderlands have long been a global center for illegal drug production. Due to its isolated location and rugged hills, Myanmar is renowned for its major role as an opium cultivating region. However, a rapid shift in the drug market has placed Myanmar as one of the world’s leading producers of methamphetamine.
As a result of the opium crackdown by the Burmese government, many armed groups suddenly needed a new source of revenue. Clandestine methamphetamine laboratories can essentially be set up anywhere, only requiring a handful of chemists and a regular supply of precursor chemicals such as pseudoephedrine to produce these synthetic drugs. Falling street prices for methamphetamine across Southeast Asia and record seizures in recent years suggest the labs are churning out more drugs than ever, much of it headed as far away as Australia and Japan
