Drug Trafficking Dynamics Across Iraq and the Middle East:Trends and Responses
Executive Summary
UNODC

The 2023 World Drug Report notes that trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) is a growing concern across the Near and Middle East. The market for “captagon”, an illicitly manufactured drug product mostly containing amphetamine, continues to grow in the Near and Middle East.
In parallel to “captagon” trafficking, a methamphetamine market seems to be developing in the Near and Middle East, as shown by a rise in seizures of the drug.
This report on “Drug Trafficking Dynamics Across Iraq and the Middle East (2019–2023): Trends and Responses” sheds light on the increasingly complex and dynamic drug trafficking landscape across the Near and Middle East region, and the efforts invested by Iraq and other countries in the region in confronting this threat. This can serve as a roadmap to assist national, regional, and international counterparts in implementing coordinated strategies to prevent and reduce drug production, trafficking, and consumption.
As such it provides evidence that can support the implementation of the outcome document of the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on the World Drug Problem (2016) and the Ministerial Declaration (2019), aimed at reinforcing global efforts to address and counter the world drug problem, adopting the shared responsibility approach.
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