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Agence France-Presse

Cheaper than a coffee but powerful enough to keep him riding Bangkok’s streets without sleep, Soonthorn puts a flame to a methamphetamine tablet wrapped in foil and inhales the intoxicating vapours.
Thailand has long been a global gateway for exports of the drug, but the coronavirus pandemic’s sudden disruption of international transport has seen a surge in cut-price “yaba” tablets in the local market.
The drug keeps Soonthorn alert while he ferries passengers around the capital’s traffic-snarled boulevards on his motorbike.
On the days he works without it he feels like his “brain is missing something”, and at the height of his addiction he stole from his parents and former wives.
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“I’d steal at every chance – watches, necklaces, rings … the drug was the first priority for me,” he said.
Meth prices have slumped around Soonthorn’s home in the Khlong Toei slum, where pills are sold for as little as 50 baht (US$1.66) apiece.
The father-of-four has taken “yaba” for years, but traffickers are also chasing new addicts.
“Supply is bunched up … it’s not getting to the high value markets like Australia or Japan because logistics are screwed up,” said Jeremy Douglas of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
That was forcing traffickers in Thailand to look locally, he said.
“There’s lots of users and potential users. You don’t just sell to meet existing demand. You create demand,” he added.

The Golden Triangle, a small pocket of territory traversing the Myanmar, Laos and Thailand frontiers, has for decades been the hub of Southeast Asia’s lucrative drug trade.
Synthetic drug production has boomed in parts of Myanmar, where it is the number one revenue source for insurgent groups and militias based on the border. Organised crime gangs also take a large cut.
The business made at least US$71 billion in profit in 2019, with methamphetamines accounting for more than 80 per cent of the windfall, according to UN estimates.
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The networks are also nimble. As coronavirus cases surged in Myanmar last year, Thai soldiers ramped up border patrols.
Traffickers responded by re-routing their drug shipments through Laos, Douglas said.
Drug hauls feature almost daily in headlines across the region – in a series of major stings this year, Thai police arrested 19 people and netted more than 14 million pills.

The pandemic has thrust Thailand’s tourism-dependent economy into its worst downturn since the 1997 Asian financial crisis and there are fears that unemployment will see a surge in drug dependency.
“When they have too much time on their hands and because it’s easy to get drugs right now, users can’t control themselves,” said Shaowpicha Techo, a rehabilitation psychologist at a health clinic in Khlong Toei.
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But he also says that people in the workforce – particularly those in strenuous manual labour jobs – also get hooked on “yaba” by using the drug to boost their ability to work long hours and make more cash.
“Over time it actually becomes the other way round because they can’t find enough money to buy drugs,” Shaowpicha said.

Former addict Jum, 32, said taking pills gave her the strength to carry heavy sacks of rice all day.
“It made me feel like a man when I was a dock worker. Even the men were amazed by my strength,” she said.
Rehabilitation can take years as former addicts try to rebuild their lives. Jum is now working to bring her four children out of an orphanage.
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“I’m trying to get my life back together, get a proper job, find a permanent address and get my kids back,” she said.
“Whenever I see my kids on weekends. They always ask me ‘when can I come home and live with you’. I tell them that mummy is trying very hard, but … you have to be patient.”


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As coronavirus hits Thailand’s drug supply lines, meth dealers drop prices to seek new addicts

A motorbike taxi driver smokes a methamphetamine pill in Bangkok, which has seen a surge in cut-price ‘yaba’ tablets in the local market. Photo: AFP

In this photo taken on January 12, 2021 motorbike taxi driver Soonthorn poses for photos as he holds a yaba methamphetamine pill while demonstrating how he consumes the drug during an interview with AFP in Bangkok. - Thailand has long been a global gateway for exports of the drug but the coronavirus pandemic's sudden disruption of international transport has seen a surge in cut-price "yaba" tablets in the local market. (Photo by Jack TAYLOR / AFP) / To go with 'THAILAND-CRIME-DRUGS-HEALTH,FOCUS' by Lisa MARTIN and Pitcha DANGPRASITH

This picture taken on December 8, 2020 shows rehabilitation psychologist Shaowpicha Techo (L) speaking with former meth user Chai (a pseudonym used to protect his identity) during a check-up at Bangkok Health Centre's Khlong Toei clinic in Bangkok. - Thailand has long been a global gateway for exports of the drug but the coronavirus pandemic's sudden disruption of international transport has seen a surge in cut-price "yaba" tablets in the local market. (Photo by Jack TAYLOR / AFP) / To go with 'THAILAND-CRIME-DRUGS-HEALTH,FOCUS' by Lisa MARTIN and Pitcha DANGPRASITH

This picture taken on December 8, 2020 shows former meth user Jum speaking to her mother-in-law at their home in Bangkok. - Thailand has long been a global gateway for exports of the drug but the coronavirus pandemic's sudden disruption of international transport has seen a surge in cut-price "yaba" tablets in the local market. (Photo by Jack TAYLOR / AFP) / To go with 'THAILAND-CRIME-DRUGS-HEALTH,FOCUS' by Lisa MARTIN and Pitcha DANGPRASITH

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TOPSHOT - People wearing face masks amid fears of the spread of COVID-19 coronavirus sell their jewelries in a gold shop in Bangkok's Chinatown on April 15, 2020. - Hundreds of Bangkok residents rushed to goldsmith shops in order to sell their jewelries as gold prices reached its highest levels since 2012. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP)

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A Thai policeman with confiscated narcotics to be incinerated. Photo: AFP

Thai Food and Drug Administration employees put methamphetamines in a trolley to be incinerated to mark the United Nations' "International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking" at the Bang Pa-In industrial estate in Ayutthaya on June 26, 2020. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

A Thai Ministy of Health employee tests a sample of heroin from a display of some of the 25 tons of narcotics confiscated from court cases to be incinerated to mark the United Nations' "International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking" at the Bang Pa-In industrial estate in Ayutthaya on June 26, 2020. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

Methamphetamine pills known locally as “ya ba” is displayed as some of 25 tons of narcotics confiscated from court cases were to be incinerated to mark the United Nations' "International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking" at the Bang Pa-In industrial estate in Ayutthaya on June 26, 2020. (Photo by Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / AFP)

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Precursor chemicals used to make illicit drugs such as methamphetamine, ketamine, heroin and fentanyl seized by Myanmar police and military. Photo: Reuters

High pressure chemical reactors, and mixers used for manufacturing illicit drugs seized by Myanmar police and military are seen in this undated photo near Loikan village in Shan State, between February and April 2020 in what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime described as AsiaÕs biggest-ever drug bust. Myanmar Police/UNODC/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

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A member of UWSA (United Wa State Army) shows 'WY' also known as Yaba before they are set on fire during a drug burning ceremony. File photo: AFP

This photo taken on May 2, 2017 shows "yaba", or amphetamine pills, laced with caffeine displayed in packages during a press conference at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board in Bangkok. Shielded by cash and contacts in Laos, 'Mr X' is accused of spinning millions of dollars from drugs before a very public downfall which has exposed the role of his secretive, communist country in showering pills across Southeast Asia. / AFP PHOTO / Lillian SUWANRUMPHA / TO GO WITH: Thailand-Laos-drugs-crime, FOCUS by Aidan JONES and Jerome TAYLOR

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Thailand’s meth barons are looking closer to home for new ‘yaba’ addicts, amid fears the downturn will fuel unemployment and drug dependency
Synthetic drug production has boomed in Myanmar and when pandemic controls shut Thailand’s borders, traffickers diverted shipments through Laos



Thailand’s meth barons are looking closer to home for new ‘yaba’ addicts, amid fears the downturn will fuel unemployment and drug dependency.


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