Speed II comes to town

Speed II comes to town

Drugs

According to a reliable source from the border, a new type of yaba (methamphetamine) produced by the Wa has entered the drug market since the beginning of this month. 

The new speed pill is thicker than the standard yaba, maroon color and is at least five times as "high" as the original, said the local businessman. "With the old yaba, you may need 5-6 pills each day to 'to stay alive'", the 50-year old native of Mongton, opposite Chiangmai, told S.H.A.N.. "With the new one, half a pill each day will keep you in shape." 

The pills were manufactured, beginning July, at Hwe-hok, east of Hoyawd at the foothills of Hpahompook mountain range. The refinery is under the protection of Ta Rong, Commander of Brigade 214, United Wa State Army. 

The compressor used for the purpose is said to be one that turns out 39 pills each time. 

On 20 September, two buyers from Thailand: one, an ethnic Chinese from Tham-ngob, Chaiprakarn District, and the other, a Muser (Lahu) from Phrao District, arrived in Hoyawd, that lies east of the township seat, Mongton. "Each took a few thousand pills to test the waters in Thailand," he said. "The wholesale price is 150 baht per pill while the retail price is 200." 

Nevertheless, entry into Thailand is still a problem for drug operators because of the continued crackdown in the kingdom, he conceded. "We therefore diverted them into Laos through the Golden Triangle, to the seaways via southern Burma and to India through Tamu," he said. 

Drug prices have also gone down, according to him. Heroin is 120,000 baht per block (700 g) and opium is 10,000 per viss (1.6 kg) down from over 200,000 baht per kg and 11,000 baht per viss last month respectively. "If it's opium from west of the Salween, the price is even lower, only 8,500 baht," he confided.