{"id":1407518,"date":"2023-08-18T06:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1407518"},"modified":"2023-08-18T06:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-18T10:45:00","slug":"europe-braces-for-3-a-pill-poor-mans-cocaine-to-flood-streets-after-gulf-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/europe-braces-for-3-a-pill-poor-mans-cocaine-to-flood-streets-after-gulf-crackdown\/1407518\/","title":{"rendered":"Europe Braces For $3 A Pill ‘Poor Man’s Cocaine’ To Flood Streets After Gulf Crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Europe Braces For $3 A Pill ‘Poor Man’s Cocaine’ To Flood Streets After Gulf Crackdown<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Bloomberg has described that what’s been dubbed “poor man’s cocaine”<\/strong> at as little as $3 a pill is threatening to proliferate across the Middle East and into Europe. It’s long been part of the underground party scene in what are otherwise strict Sharia law Arab Gulf countries, but that’s poised to change after authorities have prioritized its eradication.<\/p>\n

“Europe is bracing for the possible influx of a drug that\u2019s hooked the Middle East as political shifts and crackdowns in the Gulf spur producers in Syria and Lebanon to tap new markets<\/strong>,” a fresh report<\/a> warns.<\/p>\n

Image via Reuters<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

But while acknowledging that the synthetic stimulant Captagon has been popular for years in parts of the Middle East and North Africa, Bloomberg blames the Assad government and allied militias for its now rapid spread<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

“Selling\u00a0for around $3 to $25 per tablet, the amphetamine-type pill captagon is primarily produced and trafficked by individuals and groups tied to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and his ally the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, according to the\u00a0US State Department<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Treasury<\/a>, the UK\u2019s\u00a0Foreign Office<\/a>\u00a0as well as independent\u00a0researchers<\/a>,” Bloomberg writes.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies have reportedly recently urged President Assad to stem the flow of Captagon from Syria as part of restored diplomatic ties, also at a moment Damascus has been re-embraced by the Arab League.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The drug was produced in the 1960s in the Germany, and in its medical form typically treats ailments like\u00a0attention deficit disorders and narcolepsy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is certainly ironic and dubious that the West now widely blames the Assad government for the proliferation of Captagon, given that for much of the last decade it was anti-government insurgents known to be the heaviest users. At one point the pill even became known as “the drug of jihad”<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Reuters<\/em> has previously detailed<\/a>, “It was discontinued but an illicit version of the drug continued to be produced in eastern Europe and later in the Arab region, becoming prominent in the conflict that erupted in Syria following anti-government protests in 2011<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

The same report noted its prominence on the anti-Assad or “rebel” side. “The illicit version – also nicknamed ‘the drug of jihad’ or ‘poor man’s cocaine’<\/em> – is thought to be made of a mix of fenethylline, caffeine and other fillers. It generates focus and staves off sleep and hunger<\/strong>,” Reuters<\/em><\/a> wrote.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia seizes 8 million Captagon pills as it courts Syria’s Assad to clamp down on the trade.<\/p>\n

By @Adam_Lucente<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/zhELbd0xk2<\/a> via @AlMonitor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Joshua Landis (@joshua_landis) May 11, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n

It has also been seen widely in war-torn places like Libya and Sudan, favored among militants precisely as an energy-booster which staves off natural cravings.<\/p>\n

As for pro-Assad networks allegedly being deep in the current Captagon trade, this is a trend likely fueled by Washington having for years\u00a0sanctioned Syria to hell<\/em><\/strong>. Currently the US-led sanctions on the Syrian government are among the most brutal and far-reaching in the world, unleashing runaway inflation, hunger, and lack of electricity\u00a0\u2014 and the trend in the MENA region<\/a>\u00a0has been that wherever poverty and political instability persists, the Captagon trade ratchets up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Currently, anti-Assad activists who are attempting to thwart Gulf-Damascus\u00a0rapprochement are harping on the issue in order to argue that Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and other Arab states must resist normalization with the Syrian government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nFri, 08\/18\/2023 – 02:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/political\/europe-braces-3-pill-poor-mans-cocaine-flood-streets-after-gulf-crackdown<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Europe Braces For $3 A Pill ‘Poor Man’s Cocaine’ To Flood Streets After Gulf Crackdown Bloomberg has described that what’s been dubbed “poor man’s cocaine”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1407518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbimBl-5U9U","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1407518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1407518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1407518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1407518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1407518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}