Drug use in the richest countries of the world is stable, but is on the up in developing countries, where methamphetamine is increasingly widespread. This from the 2010 World Drug Report, produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The standout factor that emerges from the report is that the production, trafficking and consumption of drugs are now almost indistinguishable, in both marketing and financial terms, from those of other basic commodities. Drugs seem to be becoming a metaphor for the global market.
The other factor is the rise in the use of methamphetamine in developing countries. Speak to a taxi driver in Jakarta, a bricklayer in Shanghai or a factory worker in the textile factories all over Asia and they will tell you exactly why: stimulants are crucial to sustaining heavy workloads.
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