Illicit Drug use in the Asia Pacific Region - Burnet Institute

Situational analysis of illicit drug issues and responses in the Asia–Pacific region
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The study undertaken by Mith Samlanh–
Friends in 2002 (Mith Samlanh–Friends,
2002) used a participatory method to carry
out interviews and group discussions with
1121 people in three locations, including
905 street children . The assessment showed
the most common drugs reportedly used by
youth interviewed (n = 258) are glue (71%)
and yama (65%) . Glue is preferred mainly
by younger (less than 15 years) and poorer
youth, including girls . Other kinds of illicit
drugs are available such as ecstasy, ketamine,
cannabis and heroin and are used by
smaller numbers of people . Heroin injecting
was evident among male street children aged
14 years and over in Phnom Penh .
The most recent UNODC assessment (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2003)
provides data from an integrated HIV, STD
and behavioural surveillance survey conducted
by the National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology
and STDs (NCHADS) with the support
of the CDC . The survey was conducted in
2003 in the Banteay Meanchey Province
with 1556 people drawn from male military
personnel (18%), male police (18%), male and
female casino workers (10%), male and female
patients being treated for tuberculosis (10%),
women attending ante-natal clinics (21%), as
well as direct and indirect female sex workers
(23%) . Of note, these data showed no reporting
of injecting drug use amongst any of the
groups surveyed in the Banteay Meanchey
Province . The most common method for
using illicit drugs was by smoking . Similarly,
the 2005 NACD report (National Authority for
Combating Drugs et al ., 2005) noted that, of
the total number of drug users reported in
the nine provinces, the majority of drug users
smoked yama (76%), 16 per cent snorted or
swallowed yama, 4 per cent injected yama,
2 per cent smoked heroin and 2 per cent
injected heroin . It is important to note that
injecting of drugs was not found in five of
the nine provinces .
A2 .3 Drug supply, production,
availability and trade
Cambodia shares borders with the world’s
major producers of opium and heroin . Based
on seizures, street price and availability indicators,
authorities report large quantities
of illicit drugs are entering Cambodia for
domestic consumption as well as transiting
to other countries (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2004) . Law enforcement
authorities in Cambodia, Thailand
and Vietnam believe that the Mekong
River, flowing from Southern China through
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam,
together with the road network, is being used
to traffic illicit drugs (Shaw, 2002) .
Amphetamine-type substances
According to the UNODC, drug trafficking
of ATS into Cambodia in 2004 increased ten
times compared to 2003 (Shaw, 2002) . On
average 100,000 tablets are trafficked each
day from the Lao border into Stung Treng
Province in northern Cambodia and then
to Phnom Penh (Shaw, 2002) . The United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the
National Authority for Combating Drugs (no
date) highlighted in the 2005–2010 master
plan that Stung Treng remains a ‘hot spot’
for methamphetamine trafficking from the
Golden Triangle to Cambodia for use in
Cambodia and overseas export . Moreover,
methamphetamine is considered to be the
major drug to be trafficked from Thailand
into the western and north-western provinces
of Cambodia .
Heroin
Since the mid-1990s Cambodia has been used
for transiting heroin (United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, 2004) . The trafficking
of heroin appears to be concentrated in
northern and eastern Cambodia, transported
from southern Laos . Some heroin is believed
to enter and exit Cambodia via Sihanoukville,
along the coastline to Koh Kong and Kampot,
and to the river port Phnom Penh . The main
province of concern remains Stung Treng
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2003) . Heroin is mostly transited onto
Vietnam, Australia and New Zealand .
Cannabis
Since the mid-1990s Cambodia has been used
for transiting cannabis and it has become
one of the largest sources of cannabis for the
world market (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2004) . Sihanoukville, on the Gulf
of Thailand, is reported to be a major area of
concern for trafficking of, among other drugs,
sizeable quantities of dried cannabis (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2002) .
Production
Two illicit drugs are produced within
Cambodia, cannabis and methamphetamines
. The north-western province of
Battambang is the province where most law
enforcement activities related to cannabis
cultivation are undertaken (United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, 2003) . Cannabis
cultivation for trade out of Cambodia, aimed
at markets such as Vietnam and China, is
still occurring, although the current magnitude
of cultivation is unknown (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2003) .
There was an eradication campaign in 2001
(approximately 60 hectares) and it is believed
that the acreage of cannabis plantations has
been decreasing over the following years .
However, overseas seizures of containers in
various parts of the world during 2003 of
cannabis grown in Cambodia indicate that
sizeable quantities are still being produced
in-country, although possibly not to the
extent experienced in the mid-to-late 1990s .
The majority of production is believed to
be undertaken by farmers who have been
provided with seeds by foreigners (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2004) .
In the 1990s, large-scale plantations were
the norm; however, today it is reported that
the trend has moved to a smaller number
of cannabis plants being grown by farmers,
usually amongst other crops such as corn or
tobacco, in more remote areas of the country
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,
2004) . The wholesale price of cannabis in
Cambodia during 2002 was about US$7 per
kilogram (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2002) .
Little information is available on methamphetamine
production in Cambodia (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2002) .
Tablets are reported to be manually produced
from methamphetamine ‘dough’ imported
from Thailand to western and north-western
Cambodia (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2002) . Cambodia is not a producer
of precursor chemicals, although the government
authorises the legal import of acetic
acid glacial, chlorhydric acid, sulphuric acid,
ethyl ether, acetone, toluene etc for industrial
purposes (United Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime, 2002) . The NACD Secretariat is
concerned about potential diversion of these
chemicals for use in the production of illicit
drugs (United Nations Office on Drugs and
Crime & National Authority for Combating
Drugs, no date) . Indicators suggest that
methamphetamine may increasingly be
manufactured in Cambodia in addition to
ongoing tableting of such ATS (personal
communication, May 2005) .
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Country profiles: Cambodia