Young lives destroyed, overcrowded prisons: the hidden cost of Thailand’s cheap meth

Despite a bloody war on drugs and frequent seizures by authorities, the supply of ya ba pills has grown to the point prices are falling

A better approach, according to a UN expert, is dealing with market demand by getting treatment, prevention and harm minimisation efforts in place

Reading Time:4 minutes

An estimated 2 million ya ba pills containing meth and caffeine are being produced every day. Photo: Mark Oltmanns

Published: 5:32pm, 11 Mar 2019Updated: 9:54pm, 11 Mar 2019

Sixteen-year-old Pichai Gudsorn is small for his age. He grew up in poverty, in a slum in Bangkok’s suburban Praram III area, with a sibling and six cousins who were raised by their 70-year-old grandmother. She makes a meagre living selling trash, and Pichai’s parents seldom visit.

“I never had money and I was bullied at school all the time because I was poor,” Pichai said – but all that changed when he was introduced to drugs by a friend.

At the age of 12 he began selling methamphetamines and dropped out of school. He was taking them as well, until two months ago, when he was arrested for the third time for selling drugs.

Cases like Pichai’s are the side effect of the rampant trade in ya ba – a drug combining meth and caffeine – in Thailand, where prices have plummeted as the supply of drugs grows.

A decade ago, ya ba pills cost 250 baht to 350 baht (US$8-US$11) each, but Pichai’s experience as a drug mule was different.

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