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Bangkok (Thailand), 26 November 2009 -While countries in the East and South-East Asia region have increased their efforts to tackle the problem of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and other drugs, a new United Nations report highlights the continued need for joint efforts, both at the national and regional levels.
The report, entitled 2009 Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs in East and South-East Asia, was launched today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Bangkok.
This report forms one of the first essential steps in providing consolidated up-to-date analysis to the UN member countries, with the aim to create better understanding of the ATS situation and design appropriate scientific, evidence-based policies and programmes to respond to it.
The East and South-East Asia region faces an increasing challenge in synthetic drugs, in particular ATS, due to their availability and malleability to rapidly shifting markets. Globally, more people use ATS than heroin and cocaine combined.
The information in the report is synthesized under UNODC's Global Synthetics Monitoring: Analyses, Reporting and Trends or SMART Programme. The SMART Programme works with Governments in the region to collect and share information and to support the various agencies to improve the ability to respond to the law enforcement and public health challenges posed by synthetic drugs.
The report presents the most current patterns and trends of ATS and other drugs of use in East and South-East Asia, based on the information reported by the partner government agencies. It focuses on the East and South-East Asia region, and also provides brief overviews of the neighbouring regions of South Asia and the Pacific Island States. In addition, the document contains national reports from 15 countries (Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Thailand and Viet Nam).
The findings are based on the latest available information shared by the drug control agencies and designated institutions in the various countries covered under the report. Based on data submitted for the year 2007 and 2008 the following observations are made in the report:
The information highlights that challenges in some countries remain in terms of the disparate levels of analysis, data generation and forensics. Also, the health implications including the treatment facilities and challenges posed by associated dimensions such as injecting drug use and HIV/ AIDS, need to be understood further. This is necessary for adequate responses to these issues, both in terms of the quality as well as the quantity.
The Global SMART Programme is currently operational in eleven countries of this region and is generously supported by the Governments of Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea and Thailand.