Crystal Meth From Myanmar Haunts Australia Streets (image @Pixabay)

While Myanmar lies thousands of miles away from Australia, the two countries share an insidious bond. They are connected through crystalline methamphetamine, or what is commonly knows as “ice” or “crystal meth”.

The highly addictive substance has permeated Australia’s suburbs now. According to the Australian Federal Police, over 70 percentage of the drug comes from northeastern Myanmar. It comes from near the Golden Triangle, where the country borders Thailand and Laos, and is transported through Southeast Asia, and arrive in Australia by boat. Reportedly, they are often smuggled in tea boxes.

As per the National Drug Strategy survey, one out of every 100 Australians over the age of 14 had used ice in the last 12 months. It was noted mostly in the country’s major cities. It also indicated that about 7.5 percent of Australia’s population had tried methamphetamine during their lifetime.

Australia’s official health campaigns declares the drug to be “psychotic” and “violent”, underscoring the prevailing stereotype of the homeless “meth addict”.

Also Read: Myanmar Leading Opium Producer In The World, Surpasses Afghanistan: UN Report

Charlies Samson, who started to take meth at the age of 18,, and became an addict, told Al Jazeera that  ice addiction could affect anyone and that people could remain apparently functioning members of society even when addicted. He also added that he had seen lawyers and businesspeople all fall prey to the drug.

“I’ve met a few people who I thought, ‘He’s got a family, he’s paying a mortgage. And now he’s got nothing.’ Because at some point, it gets a hold of you, even if it’s not financially, it’ll get you mentally,” he said.

Since the 2021 military coup, the production of methamphetamine and heroin has increased in Myanmar. The country was also plunged into crisis and civil war. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that seizures of methamphetamine hit a record 190 tonnes in 2023 across East and Southeast Asia. UNODC also noted that Myanmar is world’s leading source of opium.

Also Read: India To Fence Entire 1,643 Km Border With Myanmar: Amit Shah

Reportedly, between 2012 and 2022, almost 10 tonnes of ‘tea packet’ methamphetamine was seized by the Australian Federal Police. More than 2.1 tonnes with a street value of more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($671.6 million) were seized in 2023 alone.

‘Tea packet’ methamphetamine refers to methamphetamine manufactured in Southeast Asia and commonly packaged in branded tea packets for concealment and marketing purposes; different colours indicate purity, with green being the highest, said the report.

The police said that it was “difficult to put a percentage on the amount of methamphetamine originating from Myanmar, as it is transhipped through multiple countries, concealing the true source of the illicit drugs”, quoted Al Jazeera.