Afghanistan is the fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, UN drug agency says

A report from the United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes said the country is also a major opium producer and heroin source

The report said seizures of meth suspected to have come from Afghanistan have been reported from the European Union and east Africa

Reading Time:2 minutes

Afghan officials destroy narcotics and other illegal substances during a ceremony in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 2:20am, 11 Sep 2023Updated: 9:01am, 11 Sep 2023

Afghanistan is the world’s fastest-growing maker of methamphetamine, a report from the United Nations drug agency said.

The country is also a major opium producer and heroin source, even though the Taliban declared a war on narcotics after they returned to power in August 2021.

The United Nations’ Office on Drugs and Crimes, which published the report, said meth in Afghanistan is mostly made from legally available substances or extracted from the ephedra plant, which grows in the wild.

The report called Afghanistan’s meth manufacturing a growing threat to national and regional health and security because it could disrupt the synthetic drug market and fuel addiction. It said seizures of meth suspected to have come from Afghanistan have been reported from the European Union and east Africa.

Afghans consume drugs, mostly heroin and methamphetamines, in Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo: AP

Annual meth seizure totals from inside the country rose from less than 100kg (220 pounds) in 2019 to nearly 2,700kg (6,000 pounds) in 2021, suggesting increased production, the report said. But it could not give a value for the country’s meth supply, the quantities being produced, nor its domestic usage, because it does not have the data.