A meth user pictured in Myanmar in 2013. Photo: Thierry Falise/LightRocket via Getty Images
A COVID-19 bottleneck has led to Golden Triangle meth supplies leaking out into the region to fuel a rise in use among young people.
Behind the constant flow of highly publicised, sometimes record-breaking meth seizures in Southeast Asia – featuring proud anti-drug cops and handcuffed smugglers standing around tables laden with cellophane-wrapped packages – little is known about how the trade is impacting local people.
Normally, much of the meth produced in the Golden Triangle – a global drug making hub in a remote jungle area where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet – is smuggled out to lucrative drug markets as far away as Australia and Japan, where the price of a kilo rises 100-fold.
But, according to the UN’s expert in the region, COVID-19 border restrictions have led to an…
