NCJ Number
224664
Date Published
2008
Length
128 pages
Annotation
This report provides an in-depth analysis of licit and illicit Amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) markets and their historical development.
Abstract
Results show that developed countries, with adequate resources at their disposal, generally show a stabilization of, or even a decrease in, ATS manufacture, trafficking, and/or use, while indicators for developing countries still show an increase. Criminal organizations appear to be increasingly targeting vulnerable countries that are close to the development markets for illicit ATS manufacturing and/or trafficking operations. Findings point to an increase in the ATS problem, primarily in countries and regions where significant indicators are present and monitoring is in the early stages of development. In East and South-East Asia, a region confronted with a significant methamphetamine problem for more than a decade which is now diversifying into ecstasy and other ATS and synthetic drugs, a monitoring system has been developed with the help of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Europe, a region which has enduring amphetamine and ecstasy problems and has supplied much of the world’s ecstasy, currently monitors the emergence of new psychoactive substances. In the United States recent attention to methamphetamine production, use, and consequences has renewed interest in better monitoring the problem. In the Near and Middle Ease a sufficient information base has not been developed despite significant seizures and increasing concern about growing ATS use. In Oceania, Pacific Island States and related territories, there are concerns about growth of manufacture, trafficking and use, yet the infrastructure to provide information is virtually non-existent. In Latin America, despite the sporadic reporting of illicit ATS manufacture and use emerging among urban youth, little attention is devoted to the ATS problem. In Africa, a region increasingly associated with the trafficking of ATS precursors and indications of growing use in some countries, only South Africa appears to be taking the threat of methamphetamine seriously. Charts, figures, and tables