Mekong states boost fight against drugs
Faced with the rapid expansion of narcotics markets and seizures in China and Southeast Asia, officials in the Mekong states - including Thailand - and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) yesterday called for better coordination of anti-n
The approach is needed to fight the region’s rapid rise in the production, trafficking and use of methamphetamine and opiates, they say.
The other Mekong countries are Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.
Speaking at a Beijing media briefing, a senior official of China’s Ministry of Public Security called for a more operational regional cooperation and pledged significant Chinese support.
“Illicit drugs undermine development and pose a growing and significant threat to China and our Greater Mekong Subregion neighbours,” said Liu Yuejin, deputy permanent secretary of the National Narcotics Control Commission of the Ministry of Public Security. “Greater regional cooperation is important, as our countries face enormous pressures from drug trafficking.”
Jeremy Douglas, UNODC regional representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said: “Methamphetamine production is now the major drug threat in the region, while at the same time opium-poppy cultivation in the Golden Triangle has rebounded significantly over recent years, and rising drug seizures suggest the market is expanding.
“The drug problem could deteriorate as regional integration and transportation plans in the Greater Mekong Subregion and Southeast Asia are implemented. States throughout the region are deeply concerned about illicit drug production, the diversion of chemicals needed to make methamphetamines and opiates, organised crime syndicates, and vulnerable borders.
“China, Thailand and other markets for illicit drugs in the region have rising disposable incomes and are targeted by organised crime. Meanwhile, Mekong Subregion countries are more easily accessed than ever before. Traffickers are able to rapidly adapt smuggling routes in and out of the Golden Triangle in response to market demand and law-enforcement patterns.
“Methamphetamine, opiates and other illicit drugs significantly impact law enforcement, criminal justice and healthcare systems in the region. Drug-related arrests are the overwhelming majority of arrests for states across the region.”
The six Mekong countries have a memorandum of understanding with UNODC and meet annually at a senior official level to share information on Mekong challenges, reach agreements on strategies to counter drug threats, and agree on measures to strengthen cooperation.
This year, China is the chair of the MoU Senior Officials Meeting, which brought together senior drug control officials from China, the other Mekong countries and UNODC.