'Better than coffee' ... North Koreans commonly treat house guests to a hit of meth. Source: Supplied
METHAMPHETAMINE has reportedly become one of North Korea's favourite drugs, casually served to treat colds, boost energy levels, and as a polite treat for house guests.
The narcotic, known in North Korea as orum, or "ice," is a rare commodity both made and sold in the politically-isolated nation, at one time by the government itself, Barbara Demick, author of Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea, writes in the Los Angeles Times.
Even now that production and trafficking have moved into the hands of smaller-scale entrepreneurs, Demick says the dictatorship remains easygoing about use of the drug.
In fact, North Koreans offer up meth as casually as a cup of tea.
"If you go to somebody's house it is a polite way to greet somebody by offering them a sniff," Lee Saera, who lives in the North Korean city of Hoeryong, near the Chinese border, tells the Times.
"It is like drinking coffee when you're sleepy, but ice is so much better."
There is so little stigma attached to meth that it is commonly used to treat illnesses or by students who want to stay up late to study. It also helps curb appetites in a country where food is scarce.
Cooking meth has also become a popular business in North Korea, where much of China's product is said to originate, largely because the lucrative drug can be made simply at home.
"Meth is a product you can make in bathtubs or trailers," Sheena Chestnut Greitens, a Harvard University researcher who tracks North Korean meth production, tell the Times. "You have a wide range of people involved in production and trafficking."
Surprisingly, North Korea pumps out meth at purity levels most producers only dream of.
In one recent case, undercover US agents obtained North Korean meth samples that tested as being 99 per cent pure, according to court records cited by Demick.
Even Walter White would be jealous.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Meth offered as casually as tea in N Korea
Dengan url
https://duniadiggi.blogspot.com/2014/01/meth-offered-as-casually-as-tea-in-n.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Meth offered as casually as tea in N Korea
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Meth offered as casually as tea in N Korea
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar