Drug production and abuse have wreaked havoc in all corners of the world. Today, the drugs that derive from the poppy create an industry worth around $68bn and the global cost of the problem is estimated to be a staggering $1tn.
Zooming into the Middle East, Captagon has emerged as a lucrative business. The pills are primarily made by chemists and scientists in Syria, where production factories are run by the government, generating profits said to be three times that of all Mexican cartels combined.
In Egypt,12-year-olds are becoming addicted to synthetic drugs such as Astrox, representing a social ticking time bomb. In Yemen, warring fighters can often be spotted taking “qat breaks" together— a very strange sight in the country's chaotic landscape. These are three examples in Al Majalla's special series on drugs in the Arab world. Tune in this week to find more reports covering this very important topic.
Read more:
1. Opioids: The poison behind the high by Islam Anan
2. Khat: Yemen’s crutch, chewed ever more in times of war by Anwar Al-Ansi
3. Egypt’s silent crisis: Child drug addiction by Maha Al-Gamal
4. Syria's highly sophisticated Captagon industry goes global by Caroline Rose
5. Captagon throws al-Assad a crucial financial lifeline by Haroun al-Aswad
6. How Iraq became a key conduit in the global drug trade by Salam Zaidan
7. Too big to bust: A look at Morocco’s $320bn drug industry by Mohamed Sharki
