After the fall of the al-Assad regime in Syria, large stockpiles of the illicit drug captagon have .
Author
- Nicole Lee
Adjunct Professor at the ³Ô¹ÏÍøÕ¾ Drug Research Institute (Melbourne based), Curtin University
The stockpiles, found by Syrian rebels, are believed to be linked to al-Assad military headquarters, in the drug’s manufacture and distribution.
But as we’ll see, captagon was once a pharmaceutical drug, similar to some of the legally available stimulants we still use today for conditions including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Captagon was once a pharmaceutical
Captagon is the original brand name of an old synthetic pharmaceutical stimulant originally . It was an alternative to amphetamine and methamphetamine, which were both used as medicines at the time.
The drug has the and was initially marketed for conditions including . It had a similar use to some of the legally available stimulants we still use today, such as .
Captagon has to amphetamines. It increases dopamine in the brain, leading to feelings of wellbeing, pleasure and euphoria. It also improves focus, concentration and stamina. But it has a lot of unwanted side effects, such as low-level psychosis.
The drug was originally sold mostly in the Middle East and parts of Europe. It was available over the counter (without a prescription) in Europe for a short time before it became prescription-only.
It was approved only briefly in the United States before becoming a controlled substance in the 1980s, but was still for the treatment of narcolepsy in many European countries until relatively recently.
According to the pharmaceutical manufacture of Captagon had stopped by 2009.
The illicit trade took over
The illegally manufactured version is usually referred to as captagon (with a small c). It is sometimes called ” ” because it is thought to be used by soldiers in war-torn areas of the Middle East to help give them focus and energy.
For instance, it’s been reportedly found on the during the conflict with Israel.
Its manufacture is relatively , making it an obvious target for the black-market drug trade.
is now nearly exclusively manufactured in Syria and surrounding countries such as . It’s mostly used in the Middle East, including in some Gulf states.
It is one of the most in Syria.
A suggests captagon generated more than US$7.3 billion in Syria and Lebanon between 2020 and 2022 (about $2.4 billion a year).
What we know about illicit drugs generally is that any seizures or crackdowns on manufacturing or sale have a very limited impact on the drug market because another manufacturer or distributor pops up to meet demand.
So in all likelihood, given the size of the captagon market in the Middle East, these latest drug discoveries and seizures are likely to reduce manufacture only for a short time.
