North Korea Has a Serious Crystal Meth Problem - Connor Simpson - the Atlantic Wire
Opium was once the North Korean drug of choice, but the fields dried up in the middle of the last decade. But now meth is being embraced. In March, a report alleged an unknown number of North Korean diplomats were given about 44 pounds of illegal drugs to sell on trips abroad. (Including a diplomat in at least one Eastern European country!) Meth seems to have also reached the people. “Doing ice was a social thing; it was a lot of fun,” a North Korean defector told The Journal. Sometimes teenagers give their friends meth as a birthday present. That same defector said he used crystal meth, typically referred to as “bingdu” or “ice,” before crossing the Tumen River to escape the People’s Republic for China. “I felt really focused, all I could think was go, go, go. I didn’t sleep for two days after that,” he said.
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