Yaa Baa
Production, Traffic and Consumption of Methamphetamine in Mainland Southeast Asia
Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy & Joël Meissonnier
Singapore University Press, Singapour-Bangkok
2004, XXII-210 p.
ISBN : 9971-69-278-3
English text
The abuse of methamphetamines in Southeast Asia has become a major problem over the past decade. Thailand has been particularly hard hit : methamphetamine abuse now affects all sectors of Thai society. In the early 1990s, methamphetamine manufacturers moved their laboratories across the border into Burma, and began large-scale production. The new cheaper product, yaa baa or ’madness medicine’, flooded the local market and it has also been found in Europe and the United States.
The authors analyse the growth of methamphetamine production in Burma in its political context, which makes the book valuable. There are many books about opium and heroin production in the Golden Triangle, but this is the first about methamphetamines. This book fills an important gap in the literature about the Golden Triangle.
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Contents
Maps
Charts
Preface by Stéphane Dovert
Introduction
I - Yaa baa, An Illicit Drug from the Golden Triangle : A Geo-Historical and Geopolitical Study of Its Production and Traffic (Pierre-Arnaud Chouvy)
1 - Methamphetamine
2 – History of a Product and Its Production Techniques
3 – The Historical and Geographic Context of the Golden Triangle
4 – Methamphetamine Production and Traffic in Mainland Southeast Asia
II - The Circuits of Yaa Baa : Methamphetamine Circulation and Use in Thailand (Joël Meissonnier)
5 – From the Producer to the Consumer
6 – Methamphetamine Use Among Workers and Low-income Groups
7 - Yaa baa’s Prime Target – The Youth
III - Sociological Context of the Explosion in Methamphetamine Use in Thailand (Joël Meissonnier)
8 – A Difficult Legacy for the Younger Generations
9 – Youth, Drugs, and Thailand’s Institutional Culture
10 – Types of Methamphetamine Users : An Attempt to Define Models
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
