TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has voiced its concern over the growing demand for methamphetamine in Asia, adding that large-scale meth producers in China were capable of meeting the demand.

“In Myanmar and the Philippines,” said UNODC in an official statement on Tuesday.

UNODC said it was also alarmed at the possible expansion of narcotics syndicates in Mexico, Mideast, South and West Asia and West Africa to East and Southeast Asia and Oceania.

"New international supply routes to Asia from America and West Africa have emerged and are supporting the production of methamphetamine in Asia,” said Justice Tettey, the chief of UNODC’s Laboratory and Scientific Section.

"West Africa is becoming a source for methamphetamine trafficked to Europe and East and Southeast Asia. Turkey is also emerging as a transit point for methamphetamine smuggled from West Asia to East and Southeast Asia."

The circulation of methamphetamine in Asia is facilitated by regional integration, which enables the production of this illicit drug everywhere. This situation poses a challenge to the criminal justice system and community health care providers, especially in countries with large population of youths.

"The impact of synthetic drugs, especially methamphetamine and new psychoactive substances, on the police, court, prison and health care systems of states in the region is tremendous," Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, said.

SINGGIH SOARES