Middle East Methamphetamines Project
A staggering proliferation of methamphetamines, particularly crystal meth, has emerged across the Middle East. The Assad regime's fall in Syria and the seizure of major, industrial scale labs has likely created a regional shortage of captagon, meaning the supply and demand for methamphetamines will likely increase. This shapes an emerging crisis for regional public health, security, and governance that should be addressed with urgency by local and international stakeholders. The Middle East Methamphetamines Project seeks to generate actionable intelligence and analysis about all aspects of the regional methamphetamine trade. Through open source intelligence methods, the project maintains a comprehensive database monitoring all methamphetamine related arrests, seizures, laboratory raids, and other developments. The project also maintains a live interactive map that journalists, researchers, and policymakers can use to monitor the trade's evolution over time, which can be found below.
A Multifaceted Threat
Criminal networks trafficking methamphetamines are taking advantage of the drug’s relatively small size and competitive cost to weight ratio to develop innovative smuggling methods that bypass detection. Methamphetamine’s highly addictive nature poses serious risks to public health, with many countries in the Middle East ill equipped to address the growing need for rehabilitation and harm reduction. The drug’s high price and rising popularity have also offered criminal groups, some of them armed actors, opportunities to build alternative revenue streams and accrue both economic and political leverage.
Intelligence and Policy Solutions
Through intelligence reports, articles, podcasts, hosted Track II dialogues, and public events, the project encourages innovative, effective policy solutions to address methamphetamine’s security, geopolitical, and health implications in the Middle East. Our database helps determine trade patterns and emerging challenges, offering stakeholders the information they need to respond effectively.
