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In the remote hills of eastern Myanmar, a new kind of gold rush is underway — not for minerals, but for methamphetamine. Once the centre of Asia’s opium trade, Myanmar has now become the region’s meth powerhouse, and Chinese chemical suppliers are playing a decisive role.

 

Shipments of precursor ingredients — the basic chemicals needed to make synthetic drugs — flow freely from factories in China into Myanmar’s Shan state. There, in territories controlled by the powerful United Wa State Army (UWSA) and other armed groups, these compounds are transformed into billions of meth pills and crystal “ice” that flood the Asia-Pacific every year.

 

Investigators from the United Nations and regional police agencies say the meth industry’s explosive growth would be impossible without China’s vast and lightly regulated chemical sector. “China supercharged this trade,” said John Coyne, a former Australian narcotics official. “Without those chemicals, industrial meth production simply couldn’t happen.”

 

Since Myanmar’s 2021 coup, the collapse of law enforcement has created ideal conditions for drug syndicates. Shan state’s militias — many with deep Chinese business ties — have filled the vacuum, operating factories under their protection and ensuring the finished drugs move quickly across porous borders into Thailand, Laos and beyond.

 

In towns like Tachileik, opposite Thailand’s Mae Sai, drugs are sold openly in streets lined with casinos and karaoke bars. Residents call it a “mafia town”. Addiction has spread through local communities, while neighbouring countries face a flood of cheap meth. Prices have halved, purity remains high, and seizures are breaking records.

 

Despite mounting evidence, Chinese authorities have done little to curb exports of drug precursors. Companies continue to advertise these chemicals online, offering discreet shipping and payment in cryptocurrency.

 

As meth use soars from Seoul to Sydney, the connection is clear: China’s chemical industry supplies the ingredients, Myanmar’s militias provide the factories, and together they have turned a war-torn nation into the beating heart of Asia’s synthetic drug trade.

 

-2025-11-10

Meth is also used to treat ADHD for hyperactive kids.

Any and all news about China is BAD news.