amphetaminesand ecstasy
2011 Global ats assessment
Vienna International Centre, PO Box 500, A 1400 Vienna, Austria Tel: +(43) (1) 26060-0, Fax: +(43) (1) 26060-5866, www.unodc.org
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Global SmArT Programme
AcknowledgementsThis report was produced by the Laboratory and Scientific Section (headed by Justice Tettey) under the supervision of Sandeep Chawla, Director, Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs.
Core team: Beate Hammond (coordination), Juan Carlos Araneda, Conor Crean, Jakub Gregor, Alice Hamilton, Raggie Johansen, Kristina Kuttnig, Sabrina Levissianos, Shawn Kelley, Tun Nay Soe.
The report also benefited from the work and expertise of many other UNODC staff in Vienna and in field offices around the world.
UNODC would like to specifically recognize funding partners Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea and Thailand for their investment in the Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends (SMART) Programme. UNODC would also like to acknowledge the contribution of the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (CICAD), for their support in the implementation of the SMART Programme in Latin America.
UNODC reiterates its appreciation and gratitude to Member States for the reports and information that provided the basis of this report as well as to the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).
DISCLAIMER
The publication has not been formally edited. The boundaries, names and designations used in all maps do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.
Comments on this report are welcome and can be sent to:
Laboratory and Scientific Section United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime PO Box 500 1400 Vienna, Austria E-mail: [email protected]
United Nations Publication Sales No. E.11.XI.13
e-ISBN: 978-92-1-055038-3
1
contents
Preface 3
exPlanatory notes 5
abbreviations 7
executive summary 9
ats markets: regional trends
Asia 17 Oceania 35
NearandMiddleEast/South-WestAsia 43
Europe 51
Africa 69
NorthAmerica 75
SouthAmerica,CentralAmericaandtheCaribbean 83
ats markets: Precursors and Production
PrecursorTrends 93 ManufacturingMethods 99
data constraints 105
conclusion 111
references 115
3
Three years after the last global assessment of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants (ATS), the manufacture and trafficking of these drugs remains a serious and constantly evolving challenge. The 2011 Global ATS Assessment shines a pow-erful light on ATS helping governments to better understand this important phenomenon.
Once viewed as purely a cottage industry, ATS manufacture and trafficking has undergone its own industrial revolu-tion. After cannabis, ATS are the second most widely used drugs across the globe outstripping the use of heroin or cocaine. ATS are now manufactured and marketed with organized crime groups involved throughout the production and supply chain.
Until recently, the ATS trade was sometimes ignored in favour of the traditional focus on heroin and cocaine. But there is growing recognition that the expansion of the ATS trade and its high profits threaten security, health and the welfare of populations across the globe.
While seizures of heroin, cocaine and cannabis remained largely stable between 2005 and 2009, ATS seizures, excluding ecstasy, showed a clear increase over the same period. In South-East Asia, for example, the number of methamphetamine pills seized grew significantly: from 32 million in 2008, to 93 million in 2009 and 133 million in 2010.
Injecting ATS use is also growing and increasing the risk of blood borne diseases such as HIV/AIDS. In Thailand, injecting is the second most common delivery system for ATS, while in New Zealand it is the most commonly injected drug. Injecting use is also now commonplace in some countries in Europe.
In addition to amphetamines and ecstasy, established ATS markets have seen the emergence of so-called analogue substances falling outside of international control. Substances such as mephedrone or methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) are sold as bath salts or plant food and act as substitutes for illicit stimulant drugs such as cocaine or ecstasy.
ATS are attractive to millions of drug users in all regions of the world because they are affordable, convenient to the user and often associated with a modern and dynamic lifestyle. Their risks are often underestimated in public perception.
In terms of the overall number of ATS users in the last twelve months, this appears to have stabilised, but there were increases in some parts of the world where there were few problems with ATS.
Such developments make ATS tidal by nature; rising and falling as demand increases and decreases around the globe. This also explains why the Assessment shows regions suffering high-tides or low-tides in ATS terms with the transition often occurring in extremely short periods of time. Most importantly, the flow of ATS trafficking exploits vulnerable states, often weakened by instability and insecurity.
ATS manufacture has also expanded into new regions and there has been a diversification of the drugs precursor chemicals and manufacturing methods. Additional countries in South-East Asia now report ATS manufacture, as well as the growth of interregional trafficking in countries with no previous history of the drug.
Methamphetamine may also be expanding into Europe with several countries reporting an increase in its use and production. Illicit laboratories have been seized in many European countries. There are also signs that the drug may be replacing amphetamine in some parts of Europe.
Once thought to be largely unaffected by the illicit manufacture and trafficking of ATS, West Africa has now been drawn into the trades orbit. Methamphetamine manufacture has been reported from Nigeria. Since 2008, seizures in several East Asian countries notably Japan and the Republic of Koreaappear to have their origin in West Africa. ATS manufacture is also increasingly reported from Central America and South America.
preface
4
2011 GLoBaL ATS ASSESSMENT
DataisfundamentaltounderstandingtheebbsandflowsofATS.UsingitsGlobalSyntheticsMonitoring:AnalysesReportingandTrends(SMART)programme,UNODChasasystemforwatchingthedrugstidalmovementsinsomeregionsoftheworld.Thankstotheprogramme,thereismoreknowledgeandthereforeabetterunderstandingoftheproblem;inturn,thiswillassistGovernmentsintheformulationofeffectiveresponses.However,gapsremain.
Todealwiththischallenge,UNODCisensuringthatthetwin-relatedthreatsofdrugtraffickingandTransnationalOrganisedCrimearemainstreamedthroughouttheUnitedNationssystem,mobilizingjointactionandcreatingavisionfortheeffectivedeliveryofsolutions.TheseactivitiesattheinternationallevelshouldalsohelpstemtheATStide.
Finally,IwouldliketothankthedonorswhosupportedthisinitiativeandwhomadethisAssessmentpossible.Fur-ther investment isnecessary, ifwearetobuildonthisAssessmentandgainaclearerappreciationofthisglobalproblem.
YuryFedotovExecutiveDirector
UnitedNationsOfficeonDrugsandCrime
5
Thisreporthasnotbeenformallyedited.
Thedesignationsemployedandthepresentationofthematerial inthispublicationdonotimplytheexpressionofanyopinionwhatsoeveronthepartoftheSecretariatoftheUnitedNationsconcerningthelegalstatusofanycountry,terri-tory,cityorareaorofitsauthorities,orconcerningthedelimitationofitsfrontiersorboundaries.Countriesandareasarereferredtobythenamesthatwereinofficialuseatthetimetherelevantdatawerecollected.
The followingnotesdescribe certain terms, regional designations, data sources and timeframesused throughout thisdocument.
atsAmphetamine-typestimulants(ATS)areagroupofsubstancescomprisedofsyntheticstimulantsincludingamphet-amine,methamphetamine,methcathinone,andecstasy-groupsubstances(e.g.,MDMAanditsanalogues).
Invarioussectionsofthisreport,amphetamineandmethamphetaminearealsoreferredtoasamphetamines-groupsub-stances. Incaseswherecountries report toUNODCwithout indicatingthespecificATStheyarereferringto, thetermnon-specifiedamphetaminesisused.Tabletswhicharemarketedtocontainanecstasy-groupsubstance,butmayactuallycontainavarietyofothersubstances,arereferredtoasecstasy.
terms:Sincethereissomescientificandlegalambiguityaboutthedistinctionsbetweendrug'use','misuse'and'abuse',thisreportusestheneutralterms,drug'use'or'consumption'.
maps: Theboundariesandnamesshownandthedesignationsusedonmapsdonotimplyofficialendorsementoraccept-ancebytheUnitedNations.AdottedlinerepresentsapproximatelythelineofcontrolinJammuandKashmiragreeduponby IndiaandPakistan.Thefinalstatusof JammuandKashmirhasnotyetbeenagreeduponbytheparties.Disputedboundaries(China/India)arerepresentedbycrosshatchduetothedifficultyofshowingsufficientdetail.
Population data: Populationdatausedinthisreportcomesfrom:UnitedNations,DepartmentofEconomicandSocialAffairs,PopulationDivision.WorldPopulationProspects:The2008Revision,2009.
regions:Invarioussections,thisreportusesanumberofregionaldesignations.Thesearenotofficialdesignations.Theyaredefinedasfollows:
AFRICA
EastAfrica:Burundi,Comoros,Djibouti,Eritrea,Ethiopia,Kenya,Madagascar,Mauritius,Rwanda,Seychelles,Somalia,Tanzania(UnitedRepublicof)andUganda
NorthAfrica:Algeria,Egypt,LibyanArabJamahiriya,Morocco,SudanandTunisia
SouthernAfrica:Angola,Botswana,Lesotho,Malawi,Mozambique,Namibia,SouthAfrica,Swaziland,ZambiaandZimbabwe
WestandCentralAfrica:Benin,BurkinaFaso,Cameroon,CapeVerde,CentralAfricanRepublic,Chad,Congo(DemocraticRepublicof),Congo(Republicof),CtedIvoire,Equatorial
