Smuggling of methamphetamine from Afghanistan: state and prospects
Abstract
After the ban imposed by the Taliban on the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan, the attention of drug producers in this country switched to the manufacture of methamphetamine mainly from plant raw materials – ephedra grass, which grows widely in Afghanistan and does not fall under the prohibitions of international organizations as a drug-containing plant. The cost of methamphetamine obtained from ephedra is lower than that obtained from medicines. The growing demand for methamphetamine, primarily in the United States and Southeast Asian countries, makes it possible to predict an increase in the production of this substance in Afghanistan and, accordingly, an increase in methamphetamine smuggling in the coming years.References
Афонин Д.Н. Перспективы контрабанды опиатов из Афганистана // Бюллетень инновационных технологий. – 2023. – Т. 7, № 2(26). – С. 5-7. – EDN OBWQMK.
Fazli S. Narcotics smuggling in Afghanistan: Links between Afghanistan and Pakistan. SOC ACE Research Paper. – Birmingham, UK: University of Birmingham. – 2022. – No. 9. – URL: globalinitiative.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/narcotics-smuggling-in-afghanistan-paper.pdf
Афонин Д.Н., Афонин П.Н., Шележонкова А.В. Применение рентгеновских сканеров персонального досмотра для выявления наркокурьеров // Ученые записки Санкт-Петербургского имени В.Б. Бобкова филиала Российской таможенной академии. – 2016. – № 4(60). – С. 27-31. – EDN YRLMKF.
Afghanistan Synthetic Drugs Situation Assessment. UNODC. – Vienna, Austria. – January 2017. – URL: www.unodc.org/documents/scientific/Afghanistan_Synthetic_Drugs_Assessment-2017.pdf.
Afghanistan’s ‘Tablet K’ - a Forensic Insight into an Emerging Synthetic Drug Market. UNODC. – Global SMART Update. – Vienna, Austria. – January 2022. – URL: www.unodc.org/documents/scientific/GlobalSMART_26_E.pdf.
Study on Substance Use and Health among Youth in Afghanistan 2018. UNODC and UNICEF. – Vienna, Austria. – April 2021. – URL: www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Drugs/Drug%20 use/Study_on_substance_use_and_health_among_youth_in_Afghanistan_2018.pdf.
Emerging Evidence of Afghanistan’s Role as a Producer and Supplier of Ephedrine and Methamphetamine. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. – Vienna, Austria. – 2022. – URL: www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/media/publications/documents/13410/emcdda-methamphetamine-in-Afghanistan-report.pdf
Precursors and Chemicals Frequently Used in the Illicit Manufacture of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 2021. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. – INCB. – Vienna, Austria. – March 2022. – URL: www.incb.org/documents/PRECURSORS/TECHNICAL_ REPORTS/2021/E/Ebook_E.pdf.
China/Afghanistan: Use of Ephedra Plants for Methamphetamine Manufacture. UNODC. – Vienna, Austria. – September 2020. – URL: www.unodc.org/LSS/announcement/Details/dcc06590-dbc1-43d3- 87ed-683d9445c61e.
Understanding Illegal Methamphetamine Manufacture in Afghanistan // UNODC. – Vienna, Austria. – 2022. – URL: www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/briefs/Methamphetamine_Manufacture_in_Afghanistan.pdf
Caveney S., Charlet D.A., Freitag H. et al. New Observations on the Secondary Chemistry of World Ephedra (Ephedraceae) // American Journal of Botany. – 2001. – Vol. 88, no. 7. – P. 1199-1208.
Ephedra. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH). – Washington, USA. – July 2020. – URL: www.nccih.nih.gov/health/ephedra.
Emerging Evidence of Afghanistan’s Role as a Producer and Supplier of Ephedrine and Methamphetamine. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. – Vienna, Austria. – 2020. – URL: www.emcdda.europa.eu/system/files/media/publications/documents/13410/emcdda-methamphetamine-in-Afghanistan-report.pdf
World Drug Report 2022 UNODC. – Vienna, Austria. – 2023. – URL: www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/world-drug-report-2022.html.
Copyright (c) 2023 Afonin D.N.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
