Earlier this year, a Syrian soldier based to the west of Damascus was given a short period of leave to consider an offer made to him by a decorated officer. The offer was to work on the officer’s farm. From farming stock himself, the soldier was overjoyed. The alternative was to stay on Syria’s dangerous frontline, facing Islamist militants and rebel factions alongside other conscripts in an army plagued by nepotism and bribery.
Speaking to Al Majalla, he described the farm offer as “a golden opportunity”. Yet he soon realised that this farm was not solely engaged in traditional agriculture. Not only was the officer growing hashish; he also had a pill-producing drug lab. Being made there were the pills for which Syria has become notorious for exporting across the Middle East: Captagon—the addictive and cheap amphetamine-based stimulant that is also highly profitable.
Paying for the state
The business comprises a network of factories, packing houses, and finance facilities. This Captagon supply chain feeds extensive cross-border smuggling operations and provides a steady stream of cash income for the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
In effect, it is bankrolling the Damascus government through an illicit trade valued at around $57bn, according to research cited by the UK’s Foreign Office. In March this year, the British government said trade in Captagon “is a financial lifeline” for al-Assad but that it came “at the expense of the Syrian people who continue to face crippling poverty and repression at the hands of the regime”.
The UN has described Syria as being in a “humanitarian crisis”, with almost 17 million people in need of basic assistance and seven million still displaced from their homes. After 13 years of war, more than half the population require food aid.
Cheap and appealing
One of the main reasons for the spread of Captagon is its price, not least compared to the other commonly available drug in Syria and beyond: hashish. After harvesting, a kilo of hashish is divided into seven pieces and packed. Each piece can cost up to $20,000. By comparison, up to ten Captagon pills can be made for around $1.
According to Lubna al-Bassit—an activist based in the government-held As-Suwayda city—Captagon prices are low enough to make the drug widely affordable, both in Syria and in neighbouring countries. “It really attracts teens,” she told Al Majalla. “It destroys the whole community and leads to instability, especially in Syria and Jordan.
After Jordan began using advanced reconnaissance methods and even air strikes to target drug smugglers in Syria, she says, "the gangs changed their methods to disguise their products in summer and smuggle them in specific weather conditions in winter."
Captagon has found a big market in the Middle East, partly because of the way it has been designed to fit the sensibilities of the region. It appeals to religious Muslims who do not drink alcohol, and for those who do not smoke, it is seen as an alternative to hashish.
Before the mass production of Captagon in Syria, people typically got high from prescription medicines designed for other purposes. Overdoses and other side effects were a constant risk. But when Captagon emerged amidst the civil war that began in 2011, it soon replaced the misuse of other drugs, developing quickly around Damascus.
Initially, it was used as a painkiller to treat those injured in war. As fighting raged, it helped soldiers fight on. Local religious figures even approved its use. Soon, users started taking the pills with confectionary, the sugar speeding up its effect and adding to the high, helping users stay awake and active. Syrian army and intelligence officers helped Captagon spread to get the enemy hooked.
Catagon's consequences
Long-term effects include paranoia and increasingly irrational behaviour. As dependence grew, soldiers soon started selling their weapons to buy Captagon. Civilians became informants to fund their habit. Addiction divided communities. It became such a problem that some Islamist groups began publicly beheading drug dealers.
Such brutality was welcomed by the general public in some rebel-held areas, helping terror groups like Al Nusra (the former local branch of Al-Qaeda) defeat moderate rebel factions and ultimately gain control of Idlib province in northern Syria in 2019. As defeated groups fled, they took Captagon with them to new areas in northern Aleppo, where the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army (SNA) was established. To this day, in Idlib, SNA factions are known locally as 'the addicted".
Al Nusra became Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, which then merged with other groups to become Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is determined to reign in the drug and has even established checkpoints between its area and the SNA areas. Nonetheless, Captagon is still smuggled into Idlib.
