Introduction of the second part
The Circuits of Yaa Baa: Methamphetamine Circulation and Use in Thailand
p. 49-51
Texte intégral
1In 1998, Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), declared before the General Assembly of the United Nations that amphetamine-type stimulants could become one of the major problems of the coming century.1 During the 1990s, the pace of growth of production and trafficking was higher for ATS than for heroin and cocaine. And, toward the end of the decade, even if one could observe signs of stabilisation in the demand for these small pills in the main Western European markets, the popularity of methamphetamine continued to increase in Asia. Out of the 14 nations of continental Europe that replied to the annual questionnaire of the UNDCP2 in 2001, 11 reported an increase in the consumption of methamphetamine among their respective populations.3 The influx of this psychotropic substance in Asia pervades not only India but also Burma, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, China and Korea, which together form a homogeneous geographical continuum. The methamphetamine phenomenon also affects many neighbouring countries separated from the mainland of Asia by the sea, including Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong and Brunei.
2To understand the logic behind the outbreak of methamphetamine use in Southeast Asia, it is advisable to dwell on the case of Thailand, whose inhabitants evidence a longstanding familiarity with the drug, as well as much current popular demand. Thailand is surrounded by three less developed countries, namely, Burma to the west, Laos to the north, and Cambodia to the east; along with Thailand, the combined populations of these countries represent a considerable potential market for methamphetamine in mainland Southeast Asia. In November 2001, an enquiry by the Thai Health Ministry confirmed the magnitude of the problem. It recorded 2.65 million drug consumers in the kingdom, that is to say, 4 per cent of the Thai population, of whom 91 per cent were thought to have used methamphetamine at least once.4
Notes de bas de page
1General Assembly of the United Nations, “Amphetamine-Type Stimulants — in Full Haste Towards the New Millennium”, in Publication of the Information Department of the United Nations Organization, Extraordinary Session for the Global Problem of Drugs, from 8–10 June 1998, electronic publication consulted in July 2001 at http://www.un.org/french/ga/20special/featur/.
2United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention, Studies on Drugs and Crime — Global Illicit Drug Trends 2001 (New York: United Nations Publications, 2001), 260-1.
3The report of the United Nations Drug Control Programme reports eleven countries of East or Southeast Asia having experienced an increase in the consumption of methamphetamine, but only ten countries are listed in the report. These include Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Brunei (the three countries reporting the steepest increases), along with Thailand, Burma, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, South Korea, and Japan. For countries that did not reply to the questionnaire, other sources allowed the authors of the report to affirm that China, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam are faced with a similar increase in consumption, even if these countries have started from a base level of methamphetamine use that is very low.
4“Drug Tests for Thai Schoolchildren”, BBC News, 10 Jan. 2002.
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Yaa Baa
Production, Traffic and Consumption of Methamphetamine in Mainland Southeast Asia
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Andrée Feillard et Rémy Madinier Wee Wong (trad.)
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Reading Post-Conflict Landscapes in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
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Yaa Baa
Production, Traffic and Consumption of Methamphetamine in Mainland Southeast Asia
Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy et Joël Meissonnier
2004
The End of Innocence?
Indonesian Islam and the Temptations of Radicalism
Andrée Feillard et Rémy Madinier Wee Wong (trad.)
2011
Interactions with a Violent Past
Reading Post-Conflict Landscapes in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
Vatthana Pholsena et Oliver Tappe (dir.)
2013
