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

After the autumn of the al-Assad regime in Syria, massive 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 a number of the legally out there stimulants we nonetheless use at the moment 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 had 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 the same use to a number of the legally out there stimulants we nonetheless use at the moment, equivalent to dexamphetamine.

Captagon has comparable 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 a number of undesirable negative effects, equivalent to low-level psychosis.

The drug was initially bought principally 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 accredited solely briefly in the USA earlier than turning into a managed substance within the Eighties, however was nonetheless authorized for the remedy of narcolepsy in lots of European nations till comparatively lately.

In accordance with 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 illustration, it has been reportedly discovered on the our bodies of Hamas troopers throughout 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 practically completely manufactured in Syria and surrounding nations equivalent to Lebanon. It is principally used within the Center East, together with recreationally in some Gulf states.

It is without doubt one of the most generally used illicit medicine 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 find out about illicit medicine typically is that any seizures or crackdowns on manufacturing or sale have a really restricted influence on the drug market as a result of one other producer or distributor pops as much as meet demand.

So in all probability, 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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