GLOBAL SYNTHETIC DRUGS ASSESSMENT 2020 Cover: © UNODC / HerrBullermann - stock.adobe.com UNITED NATIONS OFFICE ON DRUGS AND CRIME Vienna Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment 2020 UNITED NATIONS Vienna, 2020 © United Nations, November 2020. All rights reserved worldwide. United Nations publication, Sales No. E.20.XI.9 ISBN: 978-92-1-148353-6 eISBN: 978-92-1-005483-6 This publication may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational or non-profit purposes without special permission from the copyright holder, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this publication as a source. Suggested citation: Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment 2020 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.20.XI.9). No use of this publication may be made for resale or any other commercial purpose whatsoever without prior permission in writing from UNODC. Applications for such permission, with a statement of purpose and intent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Research and Trend Analysis Branch of UNODC. Disclaimer The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of UNODC or contributory organiza- tions, nor does it imply any endorsement. This document has not been formally edited. Comments on the report are welcome and can be sent to: Laboratory and Scientific Section Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime P.O. Box 500 1400 Vienna Austria Tel.: (+43) 1 26060 0 Email: [email protected] Website: www.unodc.org/lab This publication has not been formally edited. Publishing production: English, Publishing and Library Section, United Nations Office at Vienna. Acknowledgments The Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment 2020 was prepared The Laboratory and Scientific Section would like to by the UNODC Laboratory and Scientific Section under thank the following Governments who made the devel- the supervision of Angela Me, Chief of the Research and opment of this report possible through their contribu- Trend Analysis Branch (RAB), and Justice Tettey, Chief tions to the Global SMART Programme: of the Laboratory and Scientific Section (LSS). Government of Australia Supervision and review Government of Canada Justice Tettey Government of China Martin Raithelhuber Government of Japan Government of New Zealand Analysis and drafting Government of the Republic of Korea Conor Crean Government of the Russian Federation Sabrina Levissianos Government of Singapore Tun Nay Soe Government of Thailand Inshik Sim Government of the United Kingdom Joey Yang Yi Tan Government of the United States Editing The present report also benefited from the expertise and Clare Jones de Rocco valuable contributions of UNODC colleagues in the Regional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific Data management and mapping support including Alexandru Caciuloiu and Himal Ojha. Tsegahiwot Abebe Belachew Nael Elagabani The report also benefited from the work and expertise of Katharina Maria Rodler many other UNODC staff members in Vienna and around the world. iii Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................... iii Explanatory notes ........................................................... vii General abbreviations ........................................................ viii Chemical abbreviations ....................................................... ix GLOBAL OVERVIEW x Options for response ......................................................... 1 Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sale of synthetic drugs ................ 4 Trends in trafficking and use of synthetic drugs ................................. 6 Methamphetamine: a dynamic and growing market ......................... 6 Amphetamine: the growing impact of “captagon” .......................... 7 An expanding market for “ecstasy” ........................................ 8 New psychoactive substances: expansion of synthetic opioids and benzodiazepine-type new psychoactive substances .................... 10 The non-medical use of opioids is expanding: fentanyl and tramadol .......... 11 Trends in the manufacture of synthetic drugs ................................... 12 Regional diversity in amphetamine and methamphetamine precursor developments .................................................. 14 Precursor chemicals in the manufacture of “ecstasy” ........................ 15 Precursor trends in the illicit manufacture of fentanyl and its analogues ...... 16 REGIONAL OVERVIEW 17 Africa ....................................................................... 18 Americas .................................................................... 20 Central America, South America and the Caribbean ......................... 21 North America ........................................................... 23 Asia and Oceania ............................................................ 25 Central Asia and Transcaucasia ............................................ 26 East and South-East Asia and Oceania .................................... 28 The Near and Middle East ................................................ 30 South Asia .............................................................. 32 South-West Asia ......................................................... 34 Europe ...................................................................... 36 UNODC publications ......................................................... 38 Glossary .................................................................... 39 Regional groupings .......................................................... 40 v Explanatory notes The designations employed and the presentation of the All uses of the word “drug” and the term “drug use” in this material in the Global Synthetic Drugs Assessment 2020 do report refer to substances controlled under the three not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on International Drug Control Conventions, and their the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concern- non-medical use. ing the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its All analysis contained in this report is based on official frontiers or boundaries. data submitted by Member States to the UNODC through the annual report questionnaire unless indicated Countries and areas are referred to by the names that were otherwise. in official use at the time the relevant data were collected. References to dollars are to United States dollars, unless Since there is some scientific and legal ambiguity about otherwise stated. the distinctions between “drug use”, “drug misuse” and “drug abuse”, the neutral term “drug use” is used in this References to tons are to metric tons, unless otherwise report. The term “misuse” is used only to denote the stated. non-medical use of pharmaceutical drugs. vii General abbreviations AOTP Afghan Opiate Trade EWA Early Warning Advisory Project (UNODC) on New Psychoactive ATS Amphetamine-type Substances (UNODC) stimulants FSPP F entanyl Signature BIMSTEC Bay of Bengal Initiative for Profiling Program (United Multi-Sectoral Technical States) and Economic HIV h uman immunodeficiency Cooperation virus CARICC Central Asian Regional INCB I nternational Narcotics Information and Control Board Coordination Centre For INR Indian Rupees Combating The Illicit ISIS/DAESH Islamic State of Iraq and Trafficking Of Narcotic the Levant Drugs, Psychotropic NCB Narcotic Control Bureau Substances And Their (India) Precursors NDLEA National Drug Law CNS Central nervous system Enforcement Agency COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (Nigeria) DEA Drug Enforcement NFLIS N ational Forensic Administration (United Laboratory Information States) System (United States) DNC Department of Narcotics NPS N ew psychoactive Control (Bangladesh) substance(s) ECOSOC United Nations Economic PICTs Pacific island countries and Social Council and territories EMCDDA European Monitoring SMART G lobal Synthetics Centre for Drugs and Drug Monitoring: Analyses, Addiction Reporting and Trends Europol European Union Agency Programme for Law Enforcement STI S exually-transmitted Cooperation infections UNODC United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime viii