The drug office and UN crime says that “explosive growth” in synthetic drug trafficking led to seizures of methamphetamine record in the east and Southeast Asia in 2024.
Production and drug trafficking have increased in the infamous “Gold Triangle”, where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand borders are found, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has warned in a new report on the regional trade of synthetic drugs.
The UNODC said that a record of 236 tons of methamphetamine were marked last year in the east and southeast regions of Asia, marking a 24 percent increase in the amount of past narcotics with the previous year.
While Thailand became the first country in the region to take more than 100 tons of methamphetamine in a single year last year, which interceives a total of 130 tons, the drug trafficking of the expansion of the state of Shan without Myanmar’s law.
“The representation of 236 tons only the amount seized; much more methamphetamine is reaching the market,” said the UNODC regional representative for the UNODC for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Benedikt Hofmann, in a statement.
“While these seizures reflect, in part, the successful efforts of application of the law, we are clearly seeing unprecedented levels of production and trafficking of methamphetamine of the golden triangle, particularly the state of Shan,” said Hofmann.
Transnational drug gangs operating in the East and Southeast Asia also show “remarkable agility” in counteracting the attempts of the Regional Police to take energetic measures against booming in synthetic drugs.
The Civil War of Myanmar, which broke out in mid -2011, has also provided favorable conditions for an expansion of drug trafficking.
“From the military acquisition in Myanmar in February 2021, the country’s drug flows have emerged not only in the east and southeast Asia, but also more and more in southern Asia, in the Indian of the northeast partular,” says the report.
The UNODC Sim Inshik, the main analyst of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said that the neighboring countries of Myanmar are becoming key traffic routes for drug trafficking produced in the golden triangle.
“The traffic route that connects Cambodia with Myanmar, mainly through the PDR, has expanded rapidly,” Sim said, using the acronym that is part of the Laos official, the popular democratic republic.
“Another increasingly significant runner implies maritime traffic routes that link Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, with Sabah in Malaysia serving as a key transit center,” he said.
Evolution -based transnational organized crime groups with headquarters in the east and #Southeastasia They are adopting more and more technologies throughout the drug supply chain while being convinced with other activities of organized crimes.
Read more in our latest report: https://t.co/ol416cuzj3 pic.twitter.com/pqufx5fmnf
-Unodc Southeast Asia-Pacific (@unodc_seap) May 28, 2025
The UNODC report also notes that, although most countries in the region have reported a general increase in the use of methamphetamine and ketamine, a powerful sedative, the number of drug users in the older group has grown in some nations.
“Some countries in the region, such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, have reported consecutive increases in the number of older drug users, while the number of younger users has decreased,” says the UNODC report, and adds that the trend of age.
Hofmann of UNODC said the decrease in the number of younger drug users admitted for treatment may be due to specific drug prevention campaigns.
“It will be key to the region to increase investment in supply prevention and reduction strategies,” he added.
