Meth precursors fuelling Myanmar's unstoppable drug trade

A flood of precursor chemicals into Myanmar is fuelling record meth production, officials said Wednesday, as the country's multi-billion-dollar drug trade spills out across Asia-Pacific.

The "Golden Triangle" -- a lawless wedge of land intersecting China, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos -- has for generations served as a base for opium and heroin production.

But it is Myanmar's meth production and trafficking that has skyrocketed to "alarming levels" in recent years, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

The price of the methampethamine pills -- known regionally as "yaba", Thai for crazy medicine -- has collapsed due to massive oversupply, as has "ice", which is the much more potent and addictive crystallised version that is smoked.

Meth from Myanmar's border area in the Golden Triangle is moving further than ever from its source, reaching India to the west and Australia to the southeast.

Officials from China, South and Southeast Asia, met in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Wednesday to discuss the meth issue, which experts fear is causing a health and crime crisis.

But Myanmar should not shoulder all of the blame, said Aung Thu, the country's vice Home Affairs minister at the meeting.

"While we are a significant source of illicit drugs, we are not a source of the chemicals," he said, according to a statement issued by the UNODC, who organised the three-day meeting beginning on Wednesday.

"We reminded the region that precursors are required for synthetic drug production to continue to go up."