BANGKOK – Methamphetamine use is rising across Asia, where recent seizures of illegal labs indicate the drug is being produced on an industrial scale, a UN report said last week.

Almost 40 million methamphetamine pills were seized across the region in 2006, up about 40 per cent from the year before, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.

In addition to the pills, more than eight tonnes of crystal methamphetamine were seized, up about 20 percent from the previous year, said the report on drug use in East Asia.

The growing use of all kinds of methamphetamines comes as Asia has achieved remarkable success in slashing opium production.

The “Golden Triangle” in Southeast Asia, once one of the largest sources for heroin, has managed to nearly wipe out opium as a result of crackdowns on poppy farming, UNODC said.

“The notion of East Asia being dominated by opiates and the ‘Opium Triangle’ is outdated,” the report said.

Military-ruled Myanmar made more than half of the seizures of methamphetamines last year.

The trend toward greater use of methamphetamines is highlighted not only by the size of the drug busts last year, but by the seizure of enormous facilities designed to produce large quantities for export, said UNODC’s regional director Jeremy Douglas.

“The world’s biggest-ever lab for methamphetamines was seized in Malaysia last year. It was on an industrial scale,” he told AFP.

Authorities across Asia captured 64 clandestine drug labs in 2006, compared with 48 the year before, and UNODC said the number could top 100 as reports from last year continue to arrive from China.

UNODC plans to meet with officials from around the region later this month in Manila to hammer out ways of combating the problem.

The report included data from Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.