Crystal Meth Will Lift You Up Until You Break By m0rzo in Culture Sun May 05, 2002 at 01:49:00 PM EST Tags: Culture (all tags)
	Methamphetamine is swiftly beginning to infiltrate the dance-floors of the world. The drug, known to induce psychopathic tendencies in its users, is thought to be more dangerous than crack and heroin. Originally confined to Bangkok clubs, its use has rapidly spread across Asia and the USA but it has yet to conquer Europe. Donald Macintyre takes investigative journalism to the most extreme level. His series of exposé documentaries for the BBC, aptly entitled 'Macintyre Undercover', have put him in the most precarious situations imaginable and earned him the loathing of some of the world's most despicable characters. Macintyre's documentaries are well-planned and often take months of preparation; this is a man with apparently no regard for his own safety. In his last documentary, he spent months infiltrating the fiercely racist and sadistically violent 'Chelsea Headhunters' - a small, organised cell of Neo-Nazi football hooligans bent on the disruption of football matches and the destruction of rival 'firms'. His recognisable face and mellow Dublin intonation made it difficult to hide when the documentary was aired and the thugs were rightfully exposed. To some he's just an agent provocateur but to others he is a herald of truth and justice.

Donald Macintyre returned to UK screens a fortnight ago. Last week, he travelled to Thailand to uncover the menacing prevalence of the dance floor drug, Methamphetamine, known locally as 'Yaba' (pron. Yar-Bar). His journey took him from the traffic-clogged Khao San Road in Bangkok (made famous by Alex Garland in his book, 'The Beach'), to the dense jungles of Burma as he strived to trace the drug from its dealers to its producers. Methamphetamine was invented by the Nazis in the 1930s and was intended for use by soldiers so they could fight for days without sleep. Methamphetamine is a derivative of synthetic amphetamines such as speed and the drug's main ingredients include salt, distilled cold medicines, petrol and lithium. Methamphetamine's production is supposedly easy, and its ingredients readily available. Its transformation from the icy cold killing fields of the Eastern Front to its adoption as a recreational drug is uncertain but it's a Nazi legacy that many wish had died with Hitler. Street methamphetamine is referred to by many names, such as 'crystal', 'meth' and 'chalk'. Methamphetamine is incredibly addictive; regular use of the drug has been linked to lung and kidney disorders, hallucinations and paranoia. Use of the drug causes the brain to flood with a substance called dopamine, causing huge exhilaration but then terrible lows. The use of 'meth' has, in the past, been attributed to a high proportion of Thailand's murders. In Thailand it is known simply as 'Yaba' and its increasingly wide-spread use in Bangkok has wreaked havoc with the Thai police force who is struggling to contain the problem. Yaba abuse, in Thailand, has reached epidemic proportions; in 2001, Thai authorities estimated that over 2.5 million people were regular users and its ever-increasing availability, particular to students, means that number is increasing no end. Armed with a hidden camera, and a team which included narcotics experts tracking his every move, Donald Macintyre took to the bustling streets of Bangkok in search of Yaba. Within moments he had located a Yaba source and was driven across the city to meet with a shady-looking drug pusher. He found Yaba similarly available at a bike-taxi rank ran by fresh-faced yet stony-eyed teenagers but Bangkok's stringent drug laws made it too risky to score on the street. In his book, `The Beach', Alex Garland vividly describes a beautiful well-kept secret - white sands circling a lagoon hidden from the sea, coral gardens and freshwater falls surrounded by jungle. These days, Phi Phi Le Island is one of Thailand's most frequented party islands, swamped yearly by thrill-seekers hoping to relive the utopian bliss brought to life by Garland. Phi Phi Le Island is also a hotbed of drug consumption and an ideal place to report on Thailand's new drugs plague. Macintyre arrived with his crew by boat in search of Yaba. His first score, three crude looking brown pills, turned out to be nothing more than Ecstasy - he could have stayed at home to get that. Sauntering along the beach, weaving in and out of drugged-up revellers, one of the Macintyre team came across his next source. A slight-looking Thai woman greeted him and reacted warmly to his enquiries about Yaba but she was clearly afraid (Phi Phi Le Island is rumoured to be swarming with undercover cops). 'Yaba, Yaba!' she shouted, trying her hardest to project her voice over the loud, thumping music. After indicating he would like to obtain some Yaba pills, the woman took him inside and beckoned him to smoke with her to which he politely declined. He did, however, film her smoking and observed the dismal look which shrouded her face. For her, Yaba smoking had become more of an act of necessity than pleasure. The pill obtained from this dicey transaction, small and red in appearance, bared the ubiquitous stamp of its Burmese producers - The Wa - an insurgent rebel group granted substantial autonomy by the government in Rangoon. Burma has always been infamous for its drug manufacturing and is understood to be Asia's largest producer of opium, which eventually gets changed into heroin destined for the streets of London or New York. Whilst publicly the Burmese government seems to take a hard line on drug manufacturing, as Macintyre discovered, production of Yaba continues openly with the apparent full knowledge and backing of those in Rangoon. This year alone, 800 million Yaba pills are estimated to be produced in Wa-held laboratories along the Burmese/Thai border. At this point in time, Burma is still entrenched in a civil war which has been raging for over 25 years. The Burmese government is extremely hostile to Western media intrusion and the area along the border with Thailand is particularly forbidden. Crossing into Thailand, Macintyre rendezvoused with a small rebel group in opposition to the government. Hacking their way through thick, dense jungle in sweltering heat to avoid government road-blocks, the BBC crew followed the heavily-armed rebels to their stronghold. There they were shown conclusive evidence of Burmese government involvement in the Yaba trade; videos shot of soldiers caught carrying thousands of pills destined for Bangkok, and of the huge drug-making facilities occupied by the Wa. A reconnaissance mission to see the facilities for themselves provoked an angry response and a skirmish ensued which culminated in both the rebels and BBC crew dodging bullets and being pursued throughout the night by government troops. Recently, enormous batches of Yaba have been intercepted making their way into Europe by boat and plane. But as Macintyre discovered, Ecstasy still remains the drug of choice in Britain's clubs. Ecstasy has received its fair share of defamation in the press despite the fact that millions of people take it every Friday night with no ill-effects. Is methamphetamine different? Is it really the pernicious drug that we're led to believe? Or is it just the latest victim of scaremongering anti-drug rhetoric in the continuing futile war against drugs?

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Done Yaba? Yeeeaa, sweet. 9% Yes. Nasty stuff. 9% No, but I would. 5% No, and I wouldn't. 62% Eh? I kill you! 13% Votes: 107 Results | Other Polls

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Methamphet amine crack heroin Donald Macintyre BBC Macintyre Undercover Chelsea Headhunters travelled to Thailand Alex Garland `The Beach' Phi Phi Le Island The Wa Also by m0rzo