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Sirachai Shin
Arunrugstichai
p h o t o j o u r n a l i s t
China’s Chemical Exports Are Behind a ‘Tsunami’ of Meth Flooding Asia
 Ex-drug users are given herbal medicine for purging by Buddhist monks at Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist temple that operates a drug rehabilitation program in Saraburi, Thailand. |  Personnel conduct an inspection through a seized shipment of Yaba, after a major drug bust with an estimated 10 million pills at the laboratory of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board in Bangkok, Thailand. Yaba, a mixture of methamphetamine and caffeine, is one of the most commonly abused stimulants in Southeast Asia. |  Samples of Yaba, a mixture of amphetamine and caffein that were seized from drug busts are seen displayed at the Office of the Narcotics Control Board in Bangkok, Thailand. |
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 A technician points to the area where drugs are being hidden on an X-ray scan of a vehicle at Mae Prik checkpoint in Lampang, Thailand. The checkpoint at Mae Prik is a crucial location for intercepting drug trafficking in northern Thailand. |  A truck approaches Mae Prik checkpoint where a statue of a police officer is seen standing at the post in Lampang, Thailand |  Aerial scenery of Tachileik town and the Sai River that forms a natural border of Thailand and Myanmar as a storm is approaching in Tachileik, Myanmar. Tachileik is a major border town of Shan State and one of the trading hubs between Thailand and Myanmar. |
 Local residents continue their daily lives at a fresh market in Tachileik, Myanmar. |  Tachileik Shwedagon Pagoda, a landmark of Tachileik town in Tachileik, Myanmar. |  Shelters reportedly used by drug users as seen in the graveyard of Tachileik town in Tachileik, Myanmar. In Tachileik, drug users form a small settlement in the graveyard of the town, and the community is growing from the spread of drugs in Shan State. |
 A drug user is seen sleeping by the road to the graveyard of Tachileik town in Tachileik, Myanmar. |  A Buddhist monk walks among ex-drug users who are attending a rehabilitation program at Wat Tham Krabok, a Buddhist temple in Saraburi, Thailand. |  Aerial scenery of the mountain pass, leading to Mae Sai town in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The mountain range of Chiang Rai is a part of the Shan Hills mountain range, and a drug trafficking route into Thailand via the natural border that still occur in present day. |
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