In the Australian city of Melbourne, paramedics were called to respond to 592 cases of crystal meth usage during 2011-2012. In the 2010-2011 year, city paramedics dealt with 282 cases of crystal meth, and 136 cases in 2009-2010.
Officials say that the calls for crystal meth problems spike during the weekends.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Australia has the highest price of meth in the world, with a gram costing $614.
Source: AAP, “Meth use doubles across Melbourne: report,” Sydney Morning Herald, May 14, 2013.
A study published in Mexico found that the Sinaloa Drug Cartel controls up to 80 percent of the illegal methamphetamine market in the United States.
Researcher Jose Luis Leon from the Autonomous Metropolitan University in Mexico found that the trafficking of meth is a global industry.
The cartels first purchase precursor chemicals such as ephedrine and pseudophedrin from supplies in Asia. The two products are banned in Mexico and must be purchased abroad. After the chemicals are shipped to ports in Mexico and Guatemala, it is then transported to meth labs in Michoacan, Jalisco, Sonora and Sinaloa.
From the labs, the meth is smuggled across the border and sold in the United States.
The money generated from the US sales is then sent to China, where it is used to purchase additional drug presursors. Mexican drug cartels are also using the funds to purchase domestica appliances and other consumer goods and legally selling those products back in Mexico, thus successfully laundering the illicit revenue.
Source: Santiago Wills, “This Mexican Cartel Controls 80 Percent of the U.S. Meth Trade, Study Finds,” ABC News, April 2, 2013.
Security officials in Thailand seized a record 82.2 million methamphetamine tablets in the country in 2012. The number of meth seized in 2012 was 66 percent higher than the amount seized in 2011.
(Price of meth around the world.)
Source: Associated Press, “Rising drug trade threatens Myanmar’s aspirations,” Google News, March 25, 2013.
In the 8 months from March 2012 to November 2012, security agencies in Iran seized 1,454 kilograms of crystal meth that was being trafficking within the country. The amount seized in 2012 was significantly higher than the 2.3 kilograms seized in the country between March 2005 to March 2006.
Source: “Official Stresses Growing Volume of Crystal Meth Seizure in Iran,” Farns News Agency, March 16, 2013.
Security analysts estimate that up to 40 percent of North Korea’s total trade levels could be made up from illicit revenue. Intelligence reports state that government agencies in North Korea actively participates in criminal rackets such as counterfeiting, production and sales of methamphetamine, and the illegal exporting of missile sales.
Source: Parameswaran Ponnudurai, “Global Bid to Cripple North Korea’s Illicit Trade,” Radio Free Asia, March 5, 2013.
Sales of Methamphetamine in New Zealand is estimated to be $1.25 Billion (1.5 Billion New Zealand Dollars) a year.
(Price of meth worldwide.)
Source: Elaine O’Connor, “Meth smuggling ring with New Zealand-Vancouver link busted,” Province, February 26, 2013.
According to Japanese Custom Officials, there were 31 cases of attempted drug smuggling from Africa into Japan in 2012. A total of 81 kilograms of illegal drugs was detected by Customs.
The number of drugs attempting to enter Japan from Africa has continued to grow within the past several years. In 2007, there were 0 cases of smuggling from Africa. In 2008, there were 8 cases f smuggling involving 8 kilograms of stimulants. In 2010, there were 43 cases of drug smuggling involving 144 kilograms, and in 2011 there were 44 cases involving 84 kilograms of drugs.
Since 2010, the number of drug smuggling cases from Africa has outnumbered the amount of drug smuggling cases from China.
Source: “Stimulants smuggled into Japan increasingly from unstable African nations,” Mainichi, February 23, 2013.
Police in Indonesia seized 1,161 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in 2011, a 79 percent increase from the 649 kilograms seized in 2010.
There were between 3.7 million to 4.7 million illegal drug abusers in Indonesia in 2011. Around 1.2 million , or one in three drug users, used crystal meth during the year. 950,000 people, or one in five, used ecstasy.
62 percent of all drug arrests in 2011 involved crystal meth, which continued the increase from previous years. In 2010, 53 percent of all drug arrests involved meth, and 38 percent in 2009.
Crystal meth was involved in 77 percent of all drug arrests of women in Indonesia in 2011.
(See world meth prices.)
Source: “Crystalline methamphetamine now Indonesia’s “primary illicit drugs threat”,” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, February 20, 2013.
According to the national survey of drug abusers in the country, the number of illegal drugs users in Mexico rose by 87 percent between 2002 and 2011.
1.5 percent of respondents to the survey reported using an illegal drug in 2011, compared to 0.8 percent in 2002.
In the capital of Mexico City, 45 percent of the 12-14 year old who used illegal drugs within the previous sniffed inhalants.
The highest levels of drug abuse in the country is in the north along the border with the United States, where 2.3 percent of the population abuse drugs. Most of the drugs used in this region is methamphetamine and heroin, which is also the illegal drugs that are smuggled into the United States.
The rate of heroin production in Mexico tripled between 2004 and 2012.
Source: Laura Vilagran, “As Mexico’s traffickers ship drugs north, they leave addicts in their wake,” Christian Science Monitor, January 25, 2013.
A drug smuggler who was arrested by police in Indonesia told police that the drug traffickers were paying him $311 (3 Million Indonesian Rupiah) per trip, according to the Jakarta Post. The man was carrying $124,600 (1.2 Billion Rupiah) worth of crystal methamphetamine when he was arrested.
Crystal meth is commonly known as “shabu-shabu” in the region. High quality meth can be sold for up to $228 on the black market in Indonesia, while lower quality meth is sold for as little as $88 per gram.
Source: Ansyor Idrus, “Palembang Police seize Rp 1.2b worth of crystal meth,” Jakarta Post, January 21, 2013.
