Thailand’s methamphetamine supply is facing a sharp rise out of Myanmar following the recent coup, opening the floodgates to an abundance of “yaba” pills. The Thai narcotics bureau seized over 80 million pills in the past 6 months alone, including a 20 million baht seizure recently, in part due to over-supply from the Covid-19 pandemic. But much more yaba is expected to be flooding across the border as the crisis in Myanmar continues, with strikes and unrest against the military rule raging on.
Organised crime and militias have been emboldened in the face of the national chaos, leading to drug production increasing. Many Burmese groups along the Laos and Thai border, the central hub of drug trade for decades (golden triangle), are already primarily funded by synthetic drug sales. Jeremy Douglas of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime says this is the case historically.
“If past…
