What is the drug captagon and how is it linked to Syria’s fallen Assad regime?

After the autumn of the al-Assad regime in Syria, giant stockpiles of the illicit drug captagon have reportedly been uncovered.

The stockpiles, discovered by Syrian rebels, are believed to be linked to al-Assad navy headquarters, implicating the fallen regime within the drug’s manufacture and distribution.

However as we’ll see, captagon was as soon as a pharmaceutical drug, just like among the legally out there stimulants we nonetheless use in the present day for situations together with attention-deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD).

Captagon was as soon as a pharmaceutical

Captagon is the unique model identify of an previous artificial pharmaceutical stimulant initially made in Germany within the Nineteen Sixties. It was a substitute for amphetamine and methamphetamine, which have been each used as medicines on the time.

The drug has the energetic ingredient fenethylline and was initially marketed for situations together with ADHD and the sleeping dysfunction narcolepsy. It had an analogous use to among the legally out there stimulants we nonetheless use in the present day, similar to dexamphetamine.

Captagon has related results to amphetamines. It will increase dopamine within the mind, resulting in emotions of well-being, pleasure and euphoria. It additionally improves focus, focus and stamina. Nevertheless it has lots of undesirable unwanted effects, similar to low-level psychosis.

The drug was initially bought largely within the Center East and components of Europe. It was out there over-the-counter (and not using a prescription) in Europe for a short while earlier than it grew to become prescription-only.

It was accepted solely briefly in the US earlier than changing into a managed substance within the Nineteen Eighties, however was nonetheless authorized for the therapy of narcolepsy in lots of European nations till comparatively just lately.

Based on the Worldwide Narcotics Management Board pharmaceutical manufacture of Captagon had stopped by 2009.

The illicit commerce took over

The illegally manufactured model is often known as captagon (with a small c). It’s typically referred to as “chemical braveness” as a result of it’s thought for use by troopers in war-torn areas of the Center East to assist in giving them focus and power.

As an example, it has been reportedly discovered on the our bodies of Hamas troopers in the course of the battle with Israel.

Its manufacture is comparatively easy and cheap, making it an apparent goal for the black-market drug commerce.

Black-market captagon is now almost completely manufactured in Syria and surrounding nations similar to Lebanon. It is largely used within the Center East, together with recreationally in some Gulf states.

It is among the mostly used illicit medication in Syria.

A current report suggests captagon generated greater than US$7.3 billion in Syria and Lebanon between 2020 and 2022 (about $2.4 billion a 12 months).

What we learn about illicit medication typically is that any seizures or crackdowns on manufacturing or sale have a really restricted affect on the drug market as a result of one other producer or distributor pops as much as meet demand.

So in all chance, given the scale of the captagon market within the Center East, these newest drug discoveries and seizures are more likely to cut back manufacture just for a short while.

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