New synthetics impede Southeast Asia’s fight against drugs: UN
The spread of a “new psychoactive substances” is devastating countries around the world, and a report released today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) identifies East and Southeast Asia as the main origin of such substances.
The substances include drugs such as fentanyl, which is contributing to an epidemic of overdoses specifically in North America. The substances can be found in trace amounts in pain medications or illicitly manufactured in the region and easily shipped by mail to anywhere in the world.
In Southeast Asia these drugs are having their own devastating effects, as well, often being sold in pill form as ecstasy replacements, which can lead to overdoses resulting in deaths.
